International Healthcare v. Global Healthcare

• Decision Date: 11 January 2007
• Docket Number: No. 02 Civ. 7862(LTS).,02 Civ. 7862(LTS).
• Citation: 470 F.Supp.2d 345
• Parties: INTERNATIONAL HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE, INC., d/b/a Global Healthcare Exchange and Kristin M. Cuene, Plaintiffs, v. GLOBAL HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE, LLC, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Inc., General Electric Company, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Inc., Gene Dorff, John F. Gaither, Jr., and Patrick Egan, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

470 F.Supp.2d 345

INTERNATIONAL HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE, INC., d/b/a Global Healthcare Exchange and Kristin M. Cuene, Plaintiffs, v. GLOBAL HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE, LLC, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Inc., General Electric Company, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Inc., Gene Dorff, John F. Gaither, Jr., and Patrick Egan, Defendants.

No. 02 Civ. 7862(LTS).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

January 11, 2007.

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Beranbaum Menken Ben-Asher & Bierman LLP, By: John A. Beranbaum, New York, New York, for Plaintiff.

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, By: Laura H. Allen, New York, New York and By: Richard O'Brien, Julie O'Donnell Allen, Debra J. Stanek, Chicago, Illinois, for Defendants Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC, Baxter International, Inc., General Electric Company, Medtronic, Inc., Gene Dorff, John F. Gaither, Jr., and Patrick Egan.

OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING EMPLOYMENT CLAIMS

SWAIN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Kristin Cuene ("Plaintiff' or "Cuene") brings this gender discrimination action against: her former employer, Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC ("GHX"); her supervisor at GHX, Gene Dorff ("Dorff"); GHX's Acting General Counsel, John Gaither, Jr. ("Gaither"); GHX's Vice President, Human Resources, Patrick Egan ("Egan"); as well as GHX's founding companies, Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Inc., General Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson ("J & J"), and Medtronic Inc.¹² In her First Amended Complaint, Cuene asserts claims against the corporate defendants for violations of Title VII of. the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq. (West 2006). Defendants assert, and Plaintiff does not contest, that Plaintiff has stipulated that her Title VII claims and the allegations in paragraphs 70 through 75 of her amended complaint concern only GHX. (Def. Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. at 1, nn. 1,2.)

Plaintiff also brings claims against GHX, Dorff, Gaither, and Egan for violations of the New York State Human Rights Law ("NYSHRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, et seq. (McKinney 2006), and the New York City Human Rights Law ("NYCHRL"), Admin. Code City N.Y. §§ 8-101, et seq. (West 2006) (collectively "state and local human rights laws"). Cuene brings further claims against Dorff and Gaither for aider and abettor liability under the state and local human rights laws.³ The Title VII and state and local human rights law claims are all based on allegations of discrimination on the basis of sex in the terms and conditions of Cuene's employment, culminating in her dismissal, as well as retaliation for opposing unlawful gender-stereotyping employment practices.

This Court exercises jurisdiction of the Title VII claims under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343 and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3), and supplemental jurisdiction of the state and local law claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367.

In this lawsuit Plaintiff, who was employed by GHX for approximately three months during the year 2000, claims that her job responsibilities were neither commensurate with her expectations and experience, nor consistent with those of similarly situated men who were involved in GHX's work. She attributes the perceived disparities, and her ultimate termination, to sex discrimination in the form of gender stereotyping. Plaintiff also alleges that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about the disparate treatment.

GHX, Dorff, Egan, and Gaither ("Defendants") move for summary judgment on the discrimination and retaliation claims, pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendants argue principally that: (1) Plaintiff failed to make the prerequisite timely filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") for the Title VII claims; (2) Plaintiff has not provided sufficient evidence of discrimination on the basis of gender; (3) Plaintiff has failed to make the necessary showing for retaliatory termination; (4) the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Dorff, Egan, and Gaither (the "Individual Defendants"); (5) GHX is not liable for claims under the state and local human rights laws; (6) Defendants' conduct does not fall within the territorial scope of the state and local human rights laws; and (7) the Individual Defendants are not subject to aider and abettor liability. Defendants also move to strike an expert report and testimony by Plaintiff's expert witness pursuant to Rules 702 and 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

The Court has carefully considered the parties' written submissions and has reviewed the arguments of both parties. For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants' motion for summary judgment, and denies Defendants' motion to strike. Specifically, the Court grants Defendants' summary judgment motion with respect to all claims against Egan and as to Plaintiffs claims of retaliation under both Title VII and the state and local human rights laws.

BACKGROUND

Except as noted, the following facts are undisputed. In accordance with the standard for summary judgment, the Court will "view evidence in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable inferences in [her] favor." See American Cas. Co. of Reading, Pa. v. Nordic Leasing, Inc., 42 F.3d 725, 728 (2d Cir.1994) (citation omitted).

In March 2000, five healthcare product suppliers formed the venture that would ultimately become GHX, to provide an internet-based trading exchange for medical products and services. (Def. 56.1 Statement of Undisputed Facts ("Def. 56.1 Statement") ¶ 1.)⁴ In June 2000, GHX hired Cuene as Director, International Business, at a salary of $125,000 plus signing bonus and other incentives, based on her international and start-up experience, market knowledge, and legal skills. (Id. ¶¶ 5, 7; Pl. Response to Def. 56.1 Statement and Counter-Statement of Disputed Facts ("Pl. 56.1 Response") ¶¶ 80, 81.) Cuene was GHX's first direct hire. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 10.)

During the time in question, GHX had limited staffing, consisting of "seconded employees" loaned to GHX by its founding companies, others seconded on a project basis, and a few new hires. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 9.) The amount of administrative support personnel available to GHX at this time is disputed. Defendants claim that there was but one (temporary) administrative assistant directly employed by GHX. (Id.; see also Egan Aff. Def. Ex. A at 2.) Plaintiff characterizes five others as also having administrative support positions relating to GHX's work during the period in question.

Cuene reported to Dorff, who had no one else directly reporting to him during Cuene's tenure with GHX. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 5.) At this time GHX was based in Chicago, but its staff was dispersed throughout the country. (Id. ¶ 11.) When not traveling for GHX, Cuene worked out of her New York City home office. (Pl. 56.1 Response ¶ 73.) Among the tasks Dorff assigned to Cuene were working on a market research plan, supporting the efforts of GHX's European Steering Committee ("ESC"), contributing to the development of a business plan, and researching the acquisition of living and office space in London. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 14, 15, 19, 20, 23-28.) Cuene was also asked to perform many mundane tasks, such as preparing informational grids, updating mailing lists and preparing invitations, arranging meetings and conference calls, taking notes at ESC meetings, and typing up minutes. (Pl. 56.1 Response ¶ 102.) Cuene reached out to Gaither on a number of occasions to suggest ways in which she might make a more substantial contribution to GHX. (Id. ¶ 100.)

In August 2000, Cuene began to voice her frustration about the amount of administrative work she was asked to do. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 40.) On September 8, 2000, she emailed Dorff and Egan to complain about the extent of secretarial work she was doing. (Id. ¶ 41.) Cuene emailed Dorff again on September 12, 2000, to which he responded by suggesting they meet to define a "clear role" for Cuene at GHX that would satisfy everyone, or, if she remained unsatisfied, that they could discuss a separation arrangement with Egan. (Id. ¶ 47; GHX Ex. 1029.) Two days later, Cuene emailed Egan again and expressed her ongoing frustration regarding her job responsibilities and mentioned other complaints. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 51; GHX Ex. 1028.) The latter concerned aspects of her position about which she had previously expressed dissatisfaction, including compensation issues, GHX's impending relocation to Colorado, a decision to focus GHX's international efforts primarily in Europe, and an intention to relocate Cuene to Europe for a period of six months to a year. (GHX Ex. 1028; see Def. 56.1 Statement ¶¶ 56-58.) In response, Egan left Cuene a message stating that he had attempted to reply to her earlier and that she should call him to schedule a time to talk. (Pl. 56.1 Response ¶ 51.) None of Cuene's complaints mentioned gender discrimination as a possible motivation or cause for any of the matters as to which Cuene was dissatisfied. (Id. ¶ 52.)

Dorff and Cuene next met on September 19, 2000, during a Paris business trip. (Id. ¶¶ 62, 63.) The details of their brief conversation are disputed. Cuene believes that Dorff fired her at that time. (Id. ¶ 63.) Dorff denies he fired Cuene. (Pl. 56.1 Response 11 120.) Defendants admit for purposes of the instant motion practice, however, that Cuene went away from the meeting believing that she had been fired. That same day, Cuene informed Egan and Gaither that Dorff fired her, and Gaither promptly took over the matter in his capacity as General Counsel. (Def. 56.1 Statement ¶ 65[1].⁵) GHX subsequently made a decision `not to reinstate Cuene. (Id. ¶ 65[2].) GHX attributes this decision to Gaither's conclusions that Cuene was not a good fit because of her complaints about administrative tasks that were considered...