Karthauser v. Columbia 9-1-1 Commc'ns Dist.

Decision Date28 December 2022
Docket Number3:20-cv-127-SI
PartiesDIANA KARTHAUSER, Plaintiff, v. COLUMBIA 9-1-1 COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT, Defendant.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Court (Oregon)

DIANA KARTHAUSER, Plaintiff,
v.
COLUMBIA 9-1-1 COMMUNICATIONS DISTRICT, Defendant.

No. 3:20-cv-127-SI

United States District Court, D. Oregon

December 28, 2022


Stephen L. Brischetto, LAW OFFICE OF STEPHEN L. BRISCHETTO, and Matthew C. Ellis, LAW OFFICE OF MATTHEW C. ELLIS, Of Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Karen M. O'Kasey and Andrew T. Weiner, HART WAGNER LLP, Of Attorneys for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

Michael H. Simon, United States District Judge.

Plaintiff Diana Karthauser (Karthauser) asserts claims against Defendant Columbia 9-1-1 Communications District (C911) under both federal and Oregon law, alleging sex discrimination, retaliation for opposing sex discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, violation of social media account privacy, wrongful discharge, and violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Before the Court is C911's motion for summary judgment on all claims. For the reasons discussed below, the Court grants in part and denies in part C911's motion.

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STANDARDS

A party is entitled to summary judgment if the “movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party has the burden of establishing the absence of a genuine dispute of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986). The court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant and draw all reasonable inferences in the non-movant's favor. Clicks Billiards, Inc. v. Sixshooters, Inc., 251 F.3d 1252, 1257 (9th Cir. 2001). Although “[c]redibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge . . . ruling on a motion for summary judgment,” the “mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the plaintiff's position [is] insufficient ....” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 255 (1986). “Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986) (citation and quotation marks omitted).

BACKGROUND

Karthauser is a former employee of C911, which is the 9-1-1 dispatch center for public safety agencies in Columbia County, Oregon. She was employed by C911 from March 2000 until C911 terminated her employment on July 16, 2018. During her 18 years of employment, Karthauser was promoted to managerial positions and received recognition of good performance, including Employee of the Year in 2005 and positive performance reviews. Her coworkers nominated her for a Certificate of Achievement in August 2017.

Between 2014 and 2018, a series of vacancies and organizational restructuring caused Karthauser and her coworkers to change positions several times. Karthauser was promoted from Supervisor to Lead Dispatcher to Performance Manager. Her coworker Trish Hilsinger was

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promoted to Operations Manager and the former Operations Manager Steve Watson was promoted to Executive Director. Watson started as Executive Director in January 2016.

In January 2017, C911 began investigating Watson for sexual harassment. As part of the investigation, C911 retained attorney Liani Reeves of the law firm Bullard Law to interview employees who had worked with Watson, including Karthauser, and recommend whether C911 should continue Watson's employment. Reeves detailed her findings and recommendations in a 44-page report (the Reeves Report) to C911's Board of Directors (Board). In her report, Reeves discussed the nature of Watson's relationships with two employees, Hilsinger and Cindi Turula, and included Karthauser's comments that Watson had previously asked her out. Also in her report, Reeves recommended that the Board dismiss Watson from his position as Executive Director. Watson later confronted Karthauser about her participation in Reeves's investigation.

C911 also retained attorney Akin Blitz, also of Bullard Law, to investigate Tyler Miller, a deputy sheriff for Columbia County and a volunteer at ¶ 911, who had accused Watson of having inappropriate relationships with female employees. Blitz detailed his findings and recommendations in a 31-page report (the Blitz Report) to C911's Board. In his report, Blitz concluded that there were serious concerns about Tyler Miller. Blitz sent a copy of his report to both the Sheriff and the Oregon State Police, and Blitz met with two State troopers in the Bullard Law office. The Board referred Miller for criminal prosecution. The District Attorney, however, declined to prosecute Miller, concluding that Miller did not engage in criminal activity by reporting Watson's sexual misconduct.

Watson resigned his position during at an executive session of the Board in April 2017, after the Board decided not to terminate Watson if he agreed to resign. On the day of his resignation, Watson called Karthauser into his office and said that he was angry with her for

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participating in Reeves's investigation and that her disclosures made him look like a liar. Blitz did not recommend referring Watson for criminal prosecution, opining that it would be an “extraordinary circumstance” to prosecute as official misconduct such “run-of-the-mill/garden-variety . . . sexual harassment misconduct.”

C911 replaced Watson with Brian Burright as interim Executive Director. A year later, in April 2018, C911 selected Mike Fletcher to be its new Executive Director. Fletcher started as Executive Director on April 19, 2018.

Fletcher has known Watson since about 2012, and the two have interacted regularly in work and non-work contexts. They have met for dinner outside of work several times and met for lunch several dozen times. They also refer to each other as “good friend” or “my man” in text messages. Fletcher considers Watson a “friend,” but not a “close friend.” They have never been to the other's home.

On May 1, 2018, C911 employee Jason McClafferty reset Karthauser's password credentials for the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) and accessed Karthauser's CJIS account. At the time, Karthauser was the sole district employee who had a CJIS administrator account for C911. Karthauser reported McClafferty's actions to Fletcher that day. Fletcher recognized that Karthauser was raising allegations that, if true, could result in criminal charges being brought against McClafferty or C911 and expose C911 to discipline by the State or the FBI that could “cripple” C911. According to Blitz, accessing Karthauser's individual account would be a “federal crime.” Fletcher addressed this “serious issue” by meeting with McClafferty and counseling him that his unauthorized access was not “appropriate.”

After an all-staff meeting on May 30, 2018, a dispatcher approached Fletcher in his office and asked to speak with him in confidence. She claimed to be acting as a “spokesperson” for

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other dispatch staff about grievances they had about Karthauser and requested an off-site meeting to address staff concerns. Fletcher reached out to Blitz the next day to advise him of the upcoming meeting and Fletcher's understanding and suspicion of a possible serious personnel matter.

Fletcher met with Watson on the morning of June 6, 2018. At noon that same day, Fletcher met with the dispatchers. At this meeting, six dispatchers reported that Karthauser had bullied and intimidated employees, revealed employees' confidential medical information, and had not adequately trained employees on the new protocols for responding to medical calls, which was Karthauser's responsibility. Records from Oregon's Department of Public Safety Standards & Training showed, contrary to what the dispatchers reported, that they were all fully trained.

After the meeting, on June 6 and 7, 2018, Fletcher contacted the Board's personnel committee, Rob Anderson and Henry Heimuller. Fletcher told Anderson and Heimuller of his intent to put Karthauser on administrative leave while C911 investigates. The two Board members agreed. Fletcher also began an audit of the training records and hired an outside investigator, Jason Servo, to investigate Karthauser's conduct, including whether she falsified training records. Blitz, who had not met Servo before, directed the investigation and instructed Servo not to interview Karthauser because he did not want to give Karthauser immunity from criminal prosecution. Servo wanted to interview Karthauser but felt that Blitz was “on a road to get the DA and State Police on board.” The relationship between Servo and Blitz became contentious, and Blitz took over the preparation of the final investigation and report.

On June 8, 2018, Karthauser received notification from Facebook that a request to change her Facebook password had been made. Karthauser suspected that McClafferty had attempted to

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access her Facebook account, and Karthauser reported her suspicion to C911 employee Nancy Edwards.[1]

Three days later, on June 11, 2018, C911 placed Karthauser on administrative leave. Fletcher gave Karthauser a letter stating that there were serious allegations against her but giving no further details about why she was being placed on leave or what the investigation was about. Karthauser did not know why she had been placed on leave.

C911 terminated Karthauser's employment on July 16, 2018. C911 told Karthauser that her employment was being terminated because she had inappropriately signed off on training records of subordinates who had not completed the required training. Karthauser believes that Burright had authorized the manner in which Karthauser performed the employee training. Others who took part in the same conduct were not disciplined or terminated.

Blitz referred Karthauser to criminal prosecution by forwarding the investigative reports to the district...

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