Jahr v. Dist. of Columbia

• Decision Date: 16 September 2013
• Docket Number: Civ. Action No. 00–02423 (EGS).
• Citation: 968 F.Supp.2d 186
• Parties: Markus JAHR, Plaintiff, v. The DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

968 F.Supp.2d 186

Markus JAHR, Plaintiff,

v.The DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Defendant.

Civ. Action No. 00–02423 (EGS).

United States District Court,

District of Columbia.

Sept. 16, 2013.

James T. Maloney, Maloney & Mohsen, PLLC, Washington, DC, Richard J. Link, Karpel, Link & Caporaletti, Rockville, MD, for Plaintiff.

David A. Hyden, DC Office of Corporation Counsel, Washington, DC, Martha J. Mullen, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

EMMET G. SULLIVAN, District Judge.

In October 2000 Plaintiffs Robert Aronson and Markus Jahr first brought this action alleging racial discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., against defendant the District of Columbia. On December 26, 2001, upon consideration of Plaintiffs' request that they be allowed to exhaust their administrative remedies in their pending appeals to the District of Columbia Office of Employee Appeals before continuing with this litigation, this Court dismissed the Complaint without prejudice to the subsequent filing of a motion to reinstate following disposition of Plaintiffs' appeals. On December 10, 2012, Plaintiff Markus Jahr filed a motion to reinstate the case, which is now ripe for determination. Upon consideration of Plaintiff's motion, the District's Opposition and reply thereto, the applicable law, the case record, and for the reasons set forth below, Mr. Jahr's motion to reinstate is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUNDA. Factual Background

Markus Jahr and Robert Aronson were employed by the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Services Department (“the Department”) as paramedics assigned to an Advanced Life Support ambulance, and were responsible for providing emergency medical care to injured persons in the District of Columbia. Jahr v. Dist. of Columbia Office of Employee Appeals, 19 A.3d 334, 336 (D.C.2011) ( “Jahr IV”). On the afternoon of January 1, 1999, Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson were dispatched to 800 Nicholson Street, NE to respond to a motor vehicle accident involving a trapped victim. Id. After transporting the accident victim to Washington Hospital Center (“WHC”), they were required by Department policy to return to their quarters by the most direct route. Id. Instead, Mr. Aronson told Mr. Jahr that he needed to fill a personal prescription at a pharmacy, and they took the ambulance to a Target Store located at the Potomac Yards Shopping Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Id.

The ambulance was seen in the shopping center parking lot by a former employee, who reported the ambulance's location to Lieutenant John Clayton at the Department's Communications Division. Jahr v. DC Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department, OEA Matter No. 1601–0180–99 at 4 (May 29, 2003) (“ Jahr I”). Upon learning this information, the EMS Shift Supervisor on duty, Captain Jerome Stark, contacted WHC staff via telephone to verify the ambulance's location, and sent a Lieutenant to the hospital to confirm the location, who searched for but could not locate the ambulance at the hospital. Id. at 5.

Sixteen minutes after the ambulance was seen in Virginia, Mr. Jahr called the Communications Division and asked for more time to retrieve the ambulance's clipboard, which he claimed had been left behind at WHC. Id. When asked his current location, Mr. Jahr said they “were in front of the Washington Hospital Center.” Id. at 9. Even after the operator told Mr. Jahr that the ambulance was not at WHC and that a lieutenant was at WHC looking for the ambulance, Mr. Jahr continued to insist that the unit was there. Id. Mr. Jahr later admitted that he was in Alexandria running a personal errand with Mr. Aronson at the time the ambulance was seen at Potomac Yards. Id.

After the Department learned of Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson's conduct, their Platoon Chief Supervisor, Captain Jerry Stack, recommended that they be suspended without pay for a period not exceeding twenty days. Compl. ¶ 8. However, Deputy Fire Chief Lillian Carter and the Department's Medical Director, Dr. Wayne E. Moore, recommended that Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson be terminated from employment. Id. ¶ 10.

The Department issued a notice of proposal to terminate Mr. Jahr from his position on January 14, 1999, which listed the charges as dishonesty and inefficiency. Id. ¶ 12. On February 12, 1999, during an informal hearing on the merits of the allegations against Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson, Assistant Fire Chief Floyd Madison recommended that the adverse actions against them be withdrawn without prejudice to enable the Department to institute new adverse actions. Id. ¶ 13. The notice was withdrawn and subsequently reinstated on February 16, 1999 listing charges of dishonesty and inexcusable neglect of duty. Id. ¶ 15. The final Department decision to terminate Mr. Jahr was issued on April 5, 1999, and he was removed on May 8, 1999.¹Id. ¶ 8.

B. Procedural History

On May 28, 1999, Mr. Jahr filed a petition for appeal from the Department's notice of his termination in the District of Columbia Office of Employee Appeals (“OEA”). Jahr I, OEA Matter 1601–0180–99, at 1. In his appeal Mr. Jahr argued, inter alia, that the penalty of removal for his conduct was disparate in comparison to the penalties given to other employees who were found guilty of committing similar, identical, or more severe misconduct. Id. at 13.

On October 10, 2000, while Mr. Jahr's OEA action was still pending, Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson filed a complaint in this Court seeking monetary damages and equitable relief from the District of Columbia on the grounds that their termination was a result of disparate treatment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Compl. at 1. Specifically, they alleged that the Department's decisions to ignore the recommendation of their superior officer that they be suspended without pay, institute an adverse action after the dismissal of an initial proceeding, and “impose a sanction disproportionate to the discipline the Department had previously imposed ... upon African–American employees guilty of similar misconduct” were “the discriminatory results of the racial bias of its African–American officials against its Caucasian employees.” Compl. ¶ 19. On December 26, 2001, this Court dismissed the Complaint without prejudice to allow Mr. Jahr and Mr. Aronson to exhaust their administrative remedies in their pending appeals to the OEA. Order to Dismiss at 1, ECF No. 13.

On October 31, 2002 a hearing was held before an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) regarding Mr. Jahr's OEA appeal. Jahr I, OEA Matter No. 1601–0180–99 at 3. In an initial decision issued on May 29, 2003, the ALJ concluded that Mr. Jahr had failed to show that he was treated differently than other similarly situated employees. Id. at 13–15. In further appeals, the ALJ's decision was subsequently upheld by the full OEA Board and the D.C. Superior Court. Jahr, 19 A.3d at 336. Finally, Mr. Jahr appealed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and was again denied the relief he sought. In 2011, the Court of Appeals affirmed the OEA's decision, including the OEA's finding that Mr. Jahr was not subject to disparate treatment in the imposition of his penalty. Jahr, 19 A.3d at 338.

On December 10, 2012, Mr. Jahr filed a motion to reinstate the case that was dismissed by this Court on December 26, 2001. Mot. to Reinstate at 1, ECF No. 15.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“The preclusive effect of a judgment is defined by claim preclusion and issue preclusion, [also known as collateral estoppel,] which are collectively referred to as res judicata.” Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880, 891, 128 S.Ct. 2161, 171 L.Ed.2d 155 (2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). Under collateral estoppel, “once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, that decision may preclude relitigation of the issue in a suit on a different cause of action involving a party to the first case.” U.S. Postal Serv. v. Am. Postal Workers Union, 553 F.3d 686, 696 (D.C.Cir.2009) (quoting Novak v. World Bank, 703 F.2d 1305, 1309 (D.C.Cir.1983)). By precluding parties from contesting matters they have already had a full and fair opportunity to litigate, collateral estoppel “conserve[s] judicial resources, avoid[s] inconsistent results, engender[s] respect for judgments of predictable and certain effect, and [ ] prevent[s] serial forum-shopping and piecemeal litigation.” McGee v. District of Columbia, 646 F.Supp.2d 115, 123 (D.D.C.2009) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Courts apply the preclusion law of the court in which the first proceeding was brought, and when this is a state court, the state's law of preclusion applies. Kremer v. Chem. Const. Corp., 456 U.S. at 481–482, 102 S.Ct. 1883 (1982); cf. Youngin's Auto Body v. Dist. of Columbia, 775 F.Supp.2d 1, 5–6 (D.D.C.2011). Under District of Columbia law, collateral estoppel “prohibits ‘the relitigation of factual or legal issues decided in a previous proceeding and essential to the prior judgment.’ ” Franco v. Dist. of Columbia, 3 A.3d 300, 303–04 (D.C.2010) (quoting Elwell v. Elwell, 947 A.2d 1136, 1140 (D.C.2008)). The Supreme Court has held that a “state administrative decision in the employment-discrimination context is entitled to preclusiveeffect in a subsequent Title VII suit where that decision has been reviewed and affirmed by the state courts.” Bagenstose v. Dist. of Columbia, 503 F.Supp.2d 247, 260 (D.D.C.2007) (citing Kremer, 456 U.S. at 479–80, 102 S.Ct. 1883);see also University of Tenn. v. Elliott, 478 U.S. 788, 799, 106 S.Ct. 3220, 92 L.Ed.2d 635 (1986) (“[W]hen a state agency acting in a judicial capacity ... resolves disputed issues of fact properly before it which the parties have had an adequate opportunity to litigate, federal courts must give the agency's factfinding the same preclusive effect to which it would be entitled in the State's courts.”) (internal...