Jones v. Enterprise Rent a Car Co. of Texas

• Decision Date: 11 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. G-01-613.,G-01-613.
• Citation: Jones v. Enterprise Rent a Car Co. of Texas, 187 F.Supp.2d 670 (S.D. Tex. 2002)
• Parties: Stephanie JONES, Plaintiff, v. ENTERPRISE RENT A CAR COMPANY OF TEXAS, Enterprise Leasing Company of Houston, and Enterprise Rent a Car Company, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

187 F.Supp.2d 670

Stephanie JONES, Plaintiff, v. ENTERPRISE RENT A CAR COMPANY OF TEXAS, Enterprise Leasing Company of Houston, and Enterprise Rent a Car Company, Defendants.

No. G-01-613.

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Galveston Division.

February 11, 2002.

As Amended March 18, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Brian R Pollard, Baker Hancock & Pollard, Waco, TX, for plaintiff.

J Clifford Gunter, III, Bracewell & Patterson, Houston, TX, for defendants.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFF'S RICO CLAIMS

KENT, District Judge.

Plaintiff Stephanie Jones ("Jones") brings this lawsuit against Defendants Enterprise Rent a Car Company of Texas ("Enterprise (San Antonio)"), Enterprise Leasing Company of Houston ("Enterprise (Houston)"), and Enterprise Rent a Car Company ("Enterprise") alleging causes of action for wrongful termination, various violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq., sex discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Now before the Court is Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's RICO claims. For the reasons articulated below, Defendants' Motion is hereby GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

Since Defendants' Motion is brought pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), the Court refrains from any subjective analysis of Plaintiff's credibility, and presents the facts, however seemingly fantastic, exactly as averred by Plaintiff in her Amended Complaint. In February of 1997, Jones was hired by Enterprise to work as an account executive for Enterprise (San Antonio) in Corpus Christi, Texas. Jones' duties primarily consisted of selling Enterprise's fleet automobiles to the general public. In facilitating these sales, Jones and other Enterprise employees would procure loan applications from prospective buyers and forward these documents to lenders. If applicants were pre-approved for credit based on their favorable "beacon scores" and annual incomes, lenders would automatically advance money to Enterprise to finance these purchases. Otherwise, lenders would require a more thorough in-house processing and review of these applications. Throughout her employment at Enterprise (San Antonio), Jones claims that she was ordered by her superiors to misreport vehicle identification numbers ("VINs"), alter beacon scores, and inflate customer incomes in order to defraud lenders into financing, and sometimes, overfinancing, automobile purchases. Specifically, Jones alleges that on or about November 6, 1997, her supervisor, Daniel Enriquez ("Enriquez"), threatened to discharge her if she did not perform these illegal acts. Then, on November 11, 1997, Enriquez instructed Jones to modify a beacon score on a potential buyer's credit report or else "be fired." After refusing to heed Enriquez' directives in both instances, Jones reported these events to the appropriate persons at Enterprise, thereby prompting an investigation by both Enterprise (San Antonio) and Enterprise. On or about December 11, 1997, Enterprise (San Antonio) employees, unaware that Jones had blown the whistle on their practices, conspired in Jones' presence to escape blame and "get" the person responsible for reporting these activities. The Enterprise investigation resulted in several firings and a reprimand for Steve Bressler ("Bressler"), a coconspirator and Jones' future supervisor.

Following these incidents, Jones was reassigned to work for Enterprise (Houston) in Houston, Texas in February of 1998. Approximately six months later, Bressler was promoted to a branch manager position at Enterprise (Houston) directly overseeing Jones. In September of 1998, after discovering that Jones had been the whistleblower a year earlier, Bressler began making inappropriate comments about Jones' body, and offering to let Jones off work early if she would give him back rubs and massages. Bressler also stated that Jones, as a woman, would never be promoted by Enterprise once she had children. In February of 1999, Enterprise (Houston) promoted Jones to the position of business finance manager, still under Bressler's supervision. According to Jones, Bressler continued his harassment by enticing her to work late with him, disclosing to her unsolicited information about his sex life, and making lewd and suggestive jokes to her and other co-workers. In June of 1999, following an Enterprise seminar on sexual harassment in the workplace, Jones filed an internal sexual harassment complaint against Bressler. One month later, Jones was transferred to the remarketing division, out of Bressler's direct chain of command. In her new position, Jones was charged with selling Enterprise vehicles to other car rental companies and wholesale car dealers. Jones' new supervisor, Thai Phamm ("Phamm"), complained about Jones' transfer because of the previous sexual harassment complaint. In December of 1999, Jones informed the regional remarketing supervisor for Enterprise (Houston), Dan Quintana ("Quintana"), that she had been the whistleblower in 1997. Quintana subsequently issued an "unsatisfactory" work review for Jones, which was later upgraded to "needs improvement" at Jones' urging.

In February of 2000, Thane Russey ("Russey") became Jones' new supervisor. Russey told Jones to either "sell or quit" and that he was there "to get rid of her." Under Russey's command, Jones alleges that she was instructed to engage in a fraudulent car substitution scheme, whereby Enterprise would sell a particular vehicle to a customer, but then deliver a lesser-valued car to that customer. The original vehicle would usually be sold at a higher price to another buyer. Jones avers several instances where Russey asked her to facilitate this scheme. On June 15, 2000, Russey ordered Jones to misrepresent a van as being hail-damaged to a customer who had already bought the vehicle so that the vehicle could be sold to another person at a higher price. After Jones refused, Russey stated that if she could not be a "team player," then "she could not be on the team." On September 22, 2000, Russey directed Jones to substitute several Buick Century automobiles that had been sold to Thrifty Car Rental with lower quality vehicles bearing different specifications. Although Russey again threatened her employment, Jones refused to comply. On October 6, 2000, Russey instructed Jones to switch six Nissan Maxima vehicles with lower quality models. Jones again refused, under explicit threat of being fired. Enterprise (Houston) and Enterprise later conducted an investigation into these matters, and Jones was accused of participating in the scheme.

Yet another scheme alleged by Jones is "ghost selling," a practice in which Enterprise employees would document fictitious car sales to existing customers in order to satisfy company quotas. Lenders would advance funds to finance these fabricated sales, and subsequently charge interest and finance charges to the unsuspecting customers. Regarding this scheme, Jones claims that on October 14, 2000, Russey ordered her to ghost sell a 2000 Dodge Neon, a 2000 Ford Taurus, and a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu, or else "be fired." Jones refused. On October 30, 2000, Jones was promoted to the position of senior remarketing supervisor for Enterprise (Houston). The next day, Jones reported to Enterprise (Houston) that she was pregnant with her first child. Jones' maternity leave would prevent her from working during the "big pull," the period of intense sales at Enterprise (Houston). On November 3, 2000, Jones inquired about maternity leave benefits, and shortly thereafter was suspended with pay pending a "new investigation" initiated by Enterprise (Houston) and Enterprise. On November 6, 2000, Jones filed a sexual discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") alleging pregnancy discrimination. On November 10, 2000, Enterprise (Houston) and Enterprise investigated Jones on the basis of "ethical questions." Jones denied involvement in any unethical dealings and informed investigators of the "ghost sales." On November 16, 2000, Jones was fired for the stated reason that she had misrepresented a vehicle as having four-wheel drive to a customer. Jones contends that the stated justification was pretextual, since other Enterprise employees had not been discharged for making similar mistakes. On October 9, 2001, Jones filed this lawsuit, specifically alleging causes of action for wrongful termination, RICO violations, sex discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On December 14, 2001, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's RICO Claims, to which the Court now turns.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Defendants move to dismiss this suit pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). A party is entitled to dismissal under Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) when an opposing party fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. When considering a 12(b)(6) motion, the Court accepts as true all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint, and views them in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Malina v. Gonzales, 994 F.2d 1121, 1125 (5th Cir.1993). "However, conclusory allegations or legal conclusions masquerading as factual conclusions will not suffice to prevent a motion to dismiss." Fernandez-Montes v. Allied Pilots Ass'n, 987 F.2d 278, 284 (5th Cir.1993).

Unlike a motion for summary judgment, a motion to dismiss should be granted only when it appears without a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claims that would entitle him to relief. See Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Home Builders Ass'n of Miss., Inc. v. City of Madison, 143 F.3d 1006, 1010 (5th Cir.1998) (applying the standard in the context of Rule 12(b)(1)); Home Capital Collateral, Inc. v. FDIC, 96 F.3d 760, 764...