Hurdle v. Com. of Va Dept. of Environ. Quality

• Decision Date: 25 September 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 3:01CV259.,CIV.A. 3:01CV259.
• Citation: 227 F.Supp.2d 549
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
• Parties: Kelvin J. HURDLE, Plaintiff, v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, Defendant.

227 F.Supp.2d 549

Kelvin J. HURDLE, Plaintiff, v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, Defendant.

No. CIV.A. 3:01CV259.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Richmond Division.

September 25, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kelvin J. Hurdle, Pro Se Plaintiff.

Martha M. Parrish, Esquire, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PAYNE, District Judge.

Kelvin Jessie Hurdle, proceeding pro se, instituted this action against the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality ("DEQ") alleging racial discrimination, disparate treatment, and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful discharge, violations of state personnel policy, and failure to follow statutory grievance procedures. Hurdle also sought relief under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, apparently for alleged violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Proceeding in accordance with Fed. R.Civ.P. 56, DEQ has moved for summary judgment on three separate grounds. First, DEQ asserts that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine deprives the Court of subject matter jurisdiction over Hurdle's claims. Second, DEQ argues that 28 U.S.C. § 1738 and the Full Faith and Credit Clause, U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 1, cl. 1, preclude Hurdle from litigating his claims in this Court because they were fully adjudicated in previous state court proceedings. Finally, DEQ urges that there exists no genuine issue of any material fact respecting the claims in Hurdle's Amended Complaint.¹

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Kelvin Jessie Hurdle graduated from Virginia State University in 1977 with a B.S. in geology. Hurdle also earned a master's degree in geology from the University of South Carolina in 1980. In 1988, Hurdle obtained employment as a geologist with the Virginia Department of Waste Management.

Following work in the hazardous waste program run by that department, Hurdle worked in the personnel section at DEQ for four years. During November of 1998, in lieu of a layoff, Hurdle was reassigned within DEQ to the position of Environmental Engineer Senior, Office of Waste Permitting, where Hurdle reported to Howard Freeland, a white male.² Freeland had served on the hiring panel that elected to hire Hurdle in 1988 and had been present during Hurdle's interview for that position. At some point during early 1999, Freeland verbally admonished Hurdle respecting his failure to arrive at work on time and his use of the telephone and facsimile machine for personal business. On July 16, 1999, Freeland issued Hurdle's interim performance evaluation, which was the first failing evaluation Hurdle had received in his 11 years of employment with DEQ.

On August 26, 1999, Hurdle filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Office of the Virginia Department of Personnel and Training ("DPT") alleging racial discrimination in the workplace. In September 1999, Freeland issued Hurdle's annual performance evaluation, which rated Hurdle "fair but needs improvement" in all categories. Following an administrative appeal within the DEQ, Hassan Vakili, having found a lack of sufficient documentation to support the finding made by Freeland, raised Hurdle's evaluation to "meets expectations." According to Vakili, he consulted with his supervisor, David Paylor, and they decided to give Hurdle this relief as a good faith gesture.

Sometime during December 1999, Hurdle again complained to DEQ management about racial discrimination in the workplace, generally. Thereafter, on February 9, 2000, Hurdle filed his first claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging racial discrimination and retaliation for participation in protected activities. The EEOC found no basis for Hurdle's claims and thus issued a Right-To-Sue letter on February 29, 2000. On May 26, 2000, Hurdle filed an action in federal court ("Hurdle I") alleging racial discrimination, disparate treatment, hostile work environment, and retaliation in employment in violation of Title VII.

On May 31, 2000, and again on June 6, 2000, supervisors Leslie Romanchik and Freeland, along with Peggy Hawkins of Human Resources, met with Hurdle to discuss his job performance. At these meetings, Hurdle was informed that his interim performance evaluation was "Does Not Meet Expectations," but these DEQ management officials also attempted to discuss with Hurdle how management could help him to improve. Sometime during June 2000, DEQ assigned Larry Syverson to mentor Hurdle. During the 2000 performance cycle, DEQ documented Hurdle's performance more thoroughly and sent him to community college to improve his writing ability. On July 5, 2000, DEQ reduced Hurdle's workload by reassigning a number of Hurdle's projects to his co-workers.

On July 28, 2000, Freeland issued a counseling memorandum to Hurdle, in part, directed to Hurdle's deficient compliance with DEQ's policy for tracking (by the use of "tracking sheets") the timeliness of responses to inquiries made to DEQ. Subsequently, Freeland accused Hurdle of making unauthorized entries on the correspondence tracking sheets. Hurdle responded, by turning the tables on Freeland, charging him with making the unauthorized entries. This dispute later became the basis for what Hurdle is fond of calling the "fraudulent document changes" in subsequent grievances and litigation.

On or about September 15, 2000, Freeland issued an annual performance evaluation for Hurdle, describing his performance as "Does Not Meet Expectation" in each category. Romanchik reviewed the rating and agreed with it. Not long thereafter, in an effort to settle Hurdle I, a Magistrate Judge of this Court recommended that Hurdle be assigned a new supervisor. Although DEQ continued to deny all liability, it made a good faith effort to clear the air by assigning Syverson (who had been serving as Hurdle's mentor) to replace Freeland as Hurdle's supervisor. On October 10, 2000, Syverson and Hurdle worked out a performance plan for Hurdle to follow for the ensuing 90 days. On or about October 20, 2000, Syverson issued Hurdle a "Group II Disciplinary Notice" which cited Hurdle for not following Syverson's instructions to inventory the work in Hurdle's office. There was no accompanying suspension or punishment, and, after the appeal, the notice was later removed from Hurdle's employment file. On October 20, 2000, Hurdle filed an EEOC claim in which he claimed racial discrimination and retaliation based on the 2000 evaluation given by Freeland and Romanchik.

On November 16, 2000, DEQ management held yet another counseling meeting with Hurdle, at which both Syverson and Freeland were present. During this meeting, Hurdle was informed that he was not meeting established schedules, and the management representatives attempted to address areas in which Hurdle's performance was deficient. Syverson offered to assign a mentor to improve Hurdle's performance. But Hurdle rejected that offer because it would have required him to work five days per week from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., rather than his then current flex schedule of four days per week, which allowed him to operate an outside consulting business. Syverson also offered to have Hurdle share an office with a co-worker in order to facilitate an exchange of ideas and provide prompt answers to Hurdle's questions. Hurdle rejected this offer as well. Instead, on November 27, 2000, Hurdle filed a grievance seeking to have the September 15, 2000 performance evaluation issued by Freeland and Romanchik raised to "meets expectations."

On January 5, 2001, this Court entered an order granting DEQ's motion for summary judgment and dismissing Hurdle I with prejudice. That decision was affirmed on appeal. Hurdle v. DEQ, CA No. 3:00cv336 (E.D.Va. January 5, 2001) (unpublished) ("Hurdle I"), aff'd per curiam 13 Fed.Appx. 197 (4th Cir. July 16, 2001) (unpublished), cert. denied ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 1295, 152 L.Ed.2d 208(2002).

On January 11, 2001, Syverson completed Hurdle's 90-day evaluation, which evaluated Hurdle's efforts in completing the performance plan jointly created on October 10, 2000. This evaluation rated Hurdle as "Does Not Meet Expectation" in all six categories of his performance plan, with an overall performance level of "Does Not Meet Minimum Expectations." As a result, Hurdle was terminated from his position effective January 16, 2001. On January 23, 2001, after investigation, the EEOC issued a second Right-To-Sue letter. That letter responded to the EEOC complaint that Hurdle had filed on October 20, 2000.

On February 14, 2001, Hurdle filed a grievance complaining of the 90-day performance evaluation and subsequent termination. The stated grounds for this grievance included: wrongful termination, retaliatory discharge, termination due to prejudice, and DEQ's failure to adhere to agency employment policies and state grievance procedures.

On March 14, 2001, Hurdle filed another EEOC claim, complaining that his termination was racially motivated and retaliatory. After investigation, the EEOC issued a Right-To-Sue letter on September 26, 2001.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 20, 2001, Hurdle filed this action. On May 31, 2001, during the pendency of these proceedings, a grievance hearing was convened before a Hearing Officer (the "Grievance Hearing") pursuant to the rules of the Virginia Department of Employment Dispute Resolution. Those rules provide for formal grievance hearings in accordance with the Virginia State Grievance Procedure, Va.Code Ann. § 2.2-3000 et seq. (Michie 2001), when a series of three successively higher grievance resolution steps have failed to resolve an employee's complaint. Va.Code Ann. § 2.2-3003. Although such hearings are often the final step in the grievance procedure, a party may appeal to the circuit court in the jurisdiction in which...