Kane v. State of Iowa Dept. of Human Services
| Decision Date | 19 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. C 96-4006-MWB.,C 96-4006-MWB. |
| Citation | 955 F.Supp. 1117 |
| Parties | Regina Rae KANE, Plaintiff, v. STATE OF IOWA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
William Kevin Stoos, Klass, Stoos, Stoik, Mugan, Villone & Phillips, L.L.P., Sioux City, IA, for Plaintiff.
Barbara E. B. Galloway, Asst. Atty. Gen., Iowa Attorney General's Office, Des Moines, IA, for Defendant.
Can this federal court hear an employment discrimination claim by a state employee that is based on violation of a state, not a federal, civil rights act? Has the plaintiff fulfilled the administrative prerequisites for filing a lawsuit under a federal anti-discrimination statute by obtaining a right-to-sue letter from the proper federal authority and filing a timely suit thereafter? These questions involve unusual permutations on more familiar issues in employment discrimination lawsuits brought by state employees. The effect of the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution upon employment discrimination suits in federal court by state employees has been considered with some regularity. Although the question of the effectiveness of the Eleventh Amendment barrier now appears settled as to federal suits based on federal anti-discrimination statutes, it is only comparatively rarely that courts have encountered the question of the effect of the Eleventh Amendment upon federal suits against state employers based on state anti-discrimination statutes. Similarly, courts often encounter questions of whether administrative remedies have been exhausted and whether federal suits are timely filed in litigation under Title VII, but only rarely have they considered the question of these prerequisites to suit in federal court where the plaintiff, a former state employee, has received right-to-sue letters from two federal agencies, but the defendant nonetheless asserts that suit was not timely filed in relation to either the right-to-sue letter or the alleged discrimination.
Plaintiff Regina R. Kane filed this lawsuit on January 18, 1996, against her former employer, the defendant Iowa Department of Human Services (IDHS). Kane alleged that she was violently sexually molested by a co-worker on December 22, 1994, while working as a clerical worker in the mailroom at the Sioux City office of the IDHS. In Count I of her complaint, Kane alleges that the IDHS violated 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1) by allowing a sexually hostile work environment. In Count II, Kane alleges violation of Iowa Code Ch. 216, the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA), which also prohibits discrimination in employment. Kane alleges that the relief available under the ICRA is more comprehensive than that available under Title VII and is not subject to the statutory limits found in Title VII. Kane's complaint alleges that she has exhausted administrative remedies on both her state and federal claims by obtaining right-to-sue letters from the appropriate agencies.
On November 27, 1996, the IDHS moved for summary judgment on both of Kane's claims. The IDHS contends that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution bars Kane's pursuit of her state-law claim under the ICRA in this federal court. The IDHS contends further that Kane's suit on her federal claim was premature, because it was filed in advance of receiving a right-to-sue letter from the appropriate federal agency, and is now time-barred by 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1), because Kane has failed to cure the defect.
On January 9, 1997, Kane was granted leave to file a "Supplemental Complaint," which added no new claims, but instead added a copy of a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), dated January 18, 1996, that was not attached to Kane's original complaint. The "Supplemental Complaint" alleges that the right-to-sue letter attached to it was sent to the IDHS and to Kane after Kane's counsel requested such a letter from the EEOC and the EEOC employee responsible for issuing such letters returned to work after government "shutdowns." It further alleges that, although the right-to-sue letter was not attached to the original complaint, it is dated the same day Kane's complaint was filed, and thus it gave Kane the right to file the present lawsuit. The "Supplemental Complaint" further alleges that nowhere does this right-to-sue letter from the EEOC indicate that any further right-to-sue letter from any other agency was required. The "Supplemental Complaint" makes no additional prayer for relief, but states instead that it is a supplement to the original complaint and that the original complaint, including its allegations and the relief sought, is incorporated into the supplement.
On January 24, 1997, the IDHS moved to dismiss the "Supplemental Complaint" for failure to state a claim, pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The IDHS contends that the EEOC letter of January 18, 1996, does not establish that Kane has exhausted administrative remedies or, if it does, that suit was not timely filed. Kane has resisted both the IDHS's motion for summary judgment and its motion to dismiss.
Pursuant to the IDHS's request, the court set telephonic oral arguments on the motion for summary judgment for February 14, 1997. By subsequent order, the court combined oral arguments on the IDHS's motion for summary judgment with oral arguments on the IDHS's motion to dismiss. At the oral arguments, plaintiff Regina R. Kane was represented by counsel William Kevin Stoos of Klass, Stoos, Stoik, Mugan, Villone & Phillips, L.L.P., in Sioux City Iowa. Defendant Iowa Department of Human Services was represented by Barbara E.B. Galloway, Assistant Attorney General, of the Iowa Attorney General's Office in Des Moines, Iowa.
Before turning to a legal analysis of the motions for summary judgment and to dismiss, the court must first identify the standards for disposition of a motion for summary judgment, as well as the undisputed and disputed facts that form a background to the motions.1
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recognizes "that summary judgment is a drastic remedy and must be exercised with extreme care to prevent taking genuine issues of fact away from juries." Wabun-Inini v. Sessions, 900 F.2d 1234, 1238 (8th Cir.1990). On the other hand, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have authorized for nearly 60 years "motions for summary judgment upon proper showings of the lack of a genuine, triable issue of material fact." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2555, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Thus, "summary judgment procedure is properly regarded not as a disfavored procedural shortcut, but rather as...
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