Jacobeit v. Rich Township High School District 227, 09 C 1924.
| Decision Date | 25 November 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 09 C 1924.,09 C 1924. |
| Citation | 673 F.Supp.2d 653 |
| Parties | Fred R. JACOBEIT, Plaintiff, v. RICH TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 227 and Maceo M. Rainey, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Laurie Marie Burgess, Burgess Law Offices, P.C., Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.
Jacqueline Marie Litra, Scandaglia & Ryan, Paul J. Ciastko, Paulette A. Petretti, Scariano, Himes and Petrarca, Chicago, IL, for Defendants.
Plaintiff Fred Jacobeit ("Jacobeit") alleges in his four-count First Amended Complaint [15] that defendants Board of Education of Rich Township High School District 227 ("District 227") and Maceo M. Rainey ("Rainey"), Principal of Rich Central High School, individually and in his official capacity, engaged in multiple violations of the federal law against Jacobeit: Count I alleges both defendants engaged in racial discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 1981 ("§ 1981"), and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("§ 1983"); Count II alleges District 227 engaged in age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("ADEA"); Count III alleges District 227 discriminated against Jacobeit based on a disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"); and Count IV alleges both defendants violated Jacobeit's Fourteenth Amendment right to due process pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. District 227 filed its Answer [18] to Counts II and III, and jointly with Rainey filed a motion to dismiss Counts I and IV[16]. This court has subject-matter jurisdiction over the claims at issue in this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
For the reasons set forth below, defendants' motion to dismiss is granted as to Rainey in his official capacity on both Counts I and IV and granted as to Rainey in his individual capacity on Jacobeit's Count I allegations of a Title VII violation by Rainey. Defendants' motion is denied as to District 227 in its entirety and as to Rainey in his individual capacity as to Jacobeit's Count I allegations of violations of § 1981 and § 1983 and Count IV due process claims.
For the purposes of Rule 12(b)(6), the court accepts as true all well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint and draws all inferences in favor of the plaintiff. Tamayo v. Blagojevich, 526 F.3d 1074, 1081 (7th Cir.2008). As a result of this rule, the following are the facts that have been accepted by the court as found in Jacobeit's First Amended Complaint and viewed in the light most favorable to Jacobeit.
Jacobeit was hired by District 227 in 1978 to teach physical education and driver's education and has been a certified staff member throughout his employment with District 227, which continues to this day. In addition to his teaching position, Jacobeit has coached a variety of sports. Jacobeit is a white male over the age of 40 who suffers from syringomyelia, a disability allegedly recognized under 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2).
On May 18, 2008, Jacobeit provided District 227 with notice of his intent to retire at the close of the 2011-2012 academic year. Around June 2007, Jacobeit advised the Rich East High School Athletic Director, Jimmy Daniels, that he was interested in applying for the open girls basketball coaching position for the 2007-2008 academic year. Jacobeit applied for that position on July 1, 2007. However, District 227 hired an African-American non-disabled female under the age of 40 to fill the open coaching position. Jacobeit alleges that the reasons that District 227 provided for hiring this candidate were that she was more "energetic" than Jacobeit and that she would work better in the school's "diverse" community. The student body at Rich East High School is predominantly African-American.
Jacobeit later inquired about other coaching position openings for the Fall 2007 season, and Will Dwyer ("Dwyer"), the Rich Central High School Athletic Director, told Jacobeit that there was an opening for an assistant girls basketball coach. Jacobeit interviewed for the position on October 19, 2007. Jacobeit was offered a job on October 25, 2007 by Dwyer, which Jacobeit accepted. Jacobeit then began performing as the assistant girls basketball coach on October 29, 2007, and District 227 and Rainey admit that a team handbook which was given to each team member listed Jacobeit as the girls assistant basketball coach. Jacobeit claims that Dwyer told him that, due to the late date of hire, Jacobeit's pay as an assistant coach would not begin until January; Jacobeit agreed to this arrangement.
On November 2, 2007, Rainey signed a "Recommendation for Hire" form for Jacobeit as the girls assistant basketball coach. At the time Rainey signed this form, Rainey had never met Jacobeit in person and was unaware of Jacobeit's race. From October 29, 2007 through November 13, 2007, Jacobeit attended all practices and activities required of him as the assistant girls basketball coach.
On November 13, 2007, Dwyer summoned Jacobeit to his office and advised Jacobeit that his coaching position was rescinded. According to Jacobeit, Rainey decided to rescind the position, and District 227 approved of this decision. Jacobeit was not given a reason for the rescission and he was not provided with any type of pre-termination hearing or opportunity to be heard prior to the termination of his position. District 227 issued Jacobeit a paycheck for the work he performed as assistant coach. The assistant coach position was later offered to a young African-American female who did not take the position, and ultimately, the position of assistant girls basketball coach was not filled for the 2007-2008 academic year, which was unprecedented.
Rainey later told Jacobeit that District 227 rescinded his assistant girls basketball coach position because he was "racially insensitive" to African-American boys on the basketball team of another high school, whom Jacobeit had coached during the 2005-2006 school year. Jacobeit claims that Rainey based this assertion on hearsay reports. Rainey claims that he learned of these "racially insensitive" remarks on the first day of the girls basketball practice. Rainey never asked Jacobeit about these allegations, nor did he conduct an investigation or ask anyone else to investigate the allegations made against Jacobeit. District 227, however, investigated the incident surrounding Jacobeit's alleged racial insensitivity at the time it occurred. Jacobeit was not disciplined by District 227 for this purported misconduct during the 2005-2006 school year or any time thereafter.
According to Jacobeit, Rainey told people in the school community that District 227 terminated Jacobeit's employment because of racially insensitive gifts given to members of a boys basketball team. Rainey allegedly said that "this person," allegedly referring to Jacobeit, could not be given an opportunity to work in the school district. As a result of Rainey's statement, Jacobeit was allegedly subjected to humiliation, could not obtain another coaching position in the school district, and District 227 has refused to hire Jacobeit for any other coaching position.
To survive a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the plaintiff need not plead particularized facts, but the factual allegations in the complaint must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 569 n. 14, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Fed. R.Civ.P. 8 does not require "`detailed factual allegations,' but it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).
In their joint motion to dismiss, District 227 and Rainey assert multiple arguments for dismissal; the court will consider each in turn.
Count I of Jacobeit's complaint alleges racial discrimination in violation of Title VII, § 1981 and § 1983. Jacobeit brings Count I against both defendants District 227 and Rainey, who ask this court to dismiss all of Count I against them both. While District 227 and Rainey objected to Count I because it "blurs multiple causes of action," they substantively addressed racial discrimination in violation of Title VII, § 1981 and § 1983 within their motion and brief; the court will address all three bases for Count I's alleged claims.
Under Title VII, an employer may not "discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex or national origin." 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1).
District 227 and Rainey argue that Rainey should be dismissed as a defendant in his official capacity because suing Rainey is redundant, as it is tantamount to suing District 227, which is already a defendant in this case. See Moore v. Bd. of Educ., 300 F.Supp.2d 641, 646 (N.D.Ill. 2004) (Gettleman, J.). While Jacobeit mentions District 227 and Rainey's argument that suing Rainey in his official capacity is redundant, Jacobeit did not attempt to refute or oppose this argument. Such a failure to oppose acts as a waiver. See Wojtas v. Capital Guardian Trust Co., 477 F.3d 924, 926 (7th Cir.2007) (); Kirksey v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 168 F.3d 1039, 1041 (7th Cir.1999) (); Rosen v. Mystery Method, Inc., No. 07-5727, 2008 WL 723331, at *6, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20667, at *17 (N.D.Ill. Mar. 14, 2008) (Kocoros, J.) (...
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