Libel v. Adventure Lands of America, Inc.

• Decision Date: 17 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-1711.,06-1711.
• Citation: 482 F.3d 1028
• Parties: Judy A. LIBEL, Appellant, v. ADVENTURE LANDS OF AMERICA, INC.; John M. Krantz, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

482 F.3d 1028

Judy A. LIBEL, Appellant, v. ADVENTURE LANDS OF AMERICA, INC.; John M. Krantz, Appellees.

No. 06-1711.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: November 15, 2006.

Filed: April 17, 2007.

Mark D. Sherinian, Sherinian & Walker, West Des Moines, IA, for Appellant.

Helen Christine Adams, Bridget R. Penick, Dickinson & Mackaman, Des Moines, IA, for Appellees.

Before RILEY, HANSEN, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

RILEY, Circuit Judge.

After being terminated from her employment with Adventure Lands of America, Inc. (Adventure Lands), Judy A. Libel (Libel) filed a lawsuit against Adventure Lands claiming violations under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990(ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213, the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA), Iowa Code § 216, and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. Adventure Lands filed a motion for summary judgment, and the district court¹ granted the motion. Libel appeals the district court's ruling. Finding no error, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Adventure Lands, an Iowa corporation, owns and operates an amusement park, a campground, and a hotel/convention center (Inn). John Krantz² served as Adventure Lands's CEO, and his son, Matthew Krantz, began serving as general manager of the Inn in September 2002.

Libel worked as a sales and catering manager at the Inn from June 1997 until November 2, 2002. Libel's responsibilities included reserving hotel rooms; booking conventions, weddings, and meetings; and making arrangements for food and beverages for those events. Shortly after she began working at the Inn, Libel was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (M.S.).

The uncontroverted testimony of Matthew Krantz indicates Libel often made mistakes at work, including failing to request menus in a timely fashion, selling more rooms than available, failing to follow other procedures, giving rooms away for free, and not charging the correct amount for events. Matthew Krantz viewed these mistakes as weaknesses, and on November 2, 2002, he terminated Libel. During the termination meeting, neither Matthew Krantz nor Libel discussed Libel's medical condition nor her insurance benefits.

Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield (Wellmark) is Adventure Lands's health care provider. Daniel Bohner (Bohner), Adventure Lands's controller, annually renews the corporation's health insurance policy. Denise Williams (Williams), an account manager with Wellmark, testified she delivered the 2003 renewal quote for Adventure Lands's health insurance policy to Bohner's attention at Adventure Lands's corporate office on November 1, 2002. According to the renewal documents, Adventure Lands's premiums were to increase from approximately $10,713 per month in 2002 to $13,799 per month in 2003. Williams testified she discussed Adventure Lands's insurance plan with Bohner, but never with John or Matthew Krantz.

On November 14, 2002, Libel met with Bohner to discuss severance benefits, including vacation pay, Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) benefits, and profit sharing. On the same date, Libel also met with John Krantz. Libel testified John Krantz told her that health insurance premiums increased over $500 per person and he could not afford both of them—meaning Libel and himself.³ John Krantz, who at the time suffered from cancer, testified he never mentioned insurance premiums when he met with Libel.

Arguing her M.S. was a reason for her termination, Libel filed suit against Adventure Lands claiming disability discrimination under the ADA and ICRA, as well as an ERISA violation.⁴ Adventure Lands responded, filing a motion for summary judgment, as well as a request to sanction Libel for her failure to respond to Adventure Lands's statement of undisputed facts in compliance with Local Rule 56.1. Determining Libel failed to comply with Local Rule 56. 1, the district court deemed portions of Adventure Lands's statement of undisputed facts admitted by Libel. The district court also granted Adventure Lands's motion for summary judgment. In granting summary judgment, the district court determined (1) Matthew Krantz alone made the decision to terminate Libel, and (2) Libel established neither a prima facie case of disability discrimination under the ADA or the ICRA, nor a prima facie case of interference with prospective insurance benefits under ERISA. This appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Local Rule 56.1

Libel argues the district court erred in deeming certain facts admitted based on her failure to comply with Local Rule 56.1. Local Rule 56.1 requires the party opposing summary judgment to file a response to the moving party's statement of material facts, and provides, in pertinent part:

A response to an individual statement of material fact that is not expressly admitted must be supported by references to those specific pages, paragraphs, or parts of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, exhibits, and affidavits that support the resisting party's refusal to admit the statement, with citations to the appendix containing that part of the record. The failure to respond, with appropriate citations to the appendix, to an individual statement of material fact constitutes an admission of that fact.

S.D. Iowa R. 56.1(b) (emphasis added).

In this case, Adventure Lands filed a statement of undisputed facts in support of summary judgment. In opposition, Libel filed a response to Adventure Lands's statement of undisputed facts, as well as her own statement of undisputed facts. Adventure Lands objected to Libel's response claiming it violated Local Rule 56.1 because several of Libel's responses consisted only of the word "denied" without supporting citations, or short, unsubstantiated phrases as "[d]enied . . . because [statements are] based upon only the testimony of interested witnesses." In light of Adventure Lands's objection, Libel filed a motion for leave to amend her response. The district court granted Libel's motion. Adventure Lands then objected to Libel's amended response, arguing Libel again failed to comply with Local Rule 56.1. Adventure Lands also requested the district court deem as admitted each disputed fact unsupported by citations. Libel filed a second motion for leave to amend her response. The district court denied Libel's second motion to amend and granted Adventure Lands's request to sanction Libel for her failure to comply with Local Rule 56.1.

We review for abuse of discretion the district court's application of its local rules. Nw. Bank & Trust Co. v. First Ill. Nat'l Bank, 354 F.3d 721, 725 (8th Cir. 2003). "The concision and specificity required by [S.D. Iowa] Local Rule 56.1 seek to aid the district court in passing upon a motion for summary judgment, reflecting the aphorism that it is the parties who know the case better than the judge." Id. (citing Waldridge v. Am. Hoechst Corp., 24 F.3d 918, 922 (7th Cir.1994)). "Local Rule 56.1 exists to prevent a district court from engaging in the proverbial search for a needle in the haystack." Id. Courts have neither the duty nor the time to investigate the record in search of an unidentified genuine issue of material fact to support a claim or a defense.

The district court gave Libel ample opportunity to correct the deficiencies in her response to Adventure Lands's statement of undisputed facts. Libel did not take full advantage of this opportunity. Libel contends the facts of this case were clearly before the district court in other documents including her brief and other supporting documents and, thus, her failure to comply with Local Rule 56.1 should be excused. The district court was not obliged to scour the record looking for factual disputes. Therefore, the district court committed no abuse of discretion when it deemed admitted Adventure Lands's statements of undisputed facts where Libel's responses violated Local Rule 56.1.

B. Summary Judgment

Libel contends the district court erred in granting Adventure Lands's motion for summary judgment. We review de novo a grant of summary judgment. Pope v. ESA Servs., Inc., 406 F.3d 1001, 1006 (8th Cir.2005). Summary judgment is proper if, after viewing the evidence and drawing all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, no genuine issue of material fact exists and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Pope, 406 F.3d at 1006.

1. Libel's Termination

In granting Adventure Lands's summary judgment motion, the district court determined Matthew Krantz alone decided to terminate Libel. The district court rejected Libel's assertion that John Krantz, Matthew's father and CEO of Adventure Lands, made the decision to terminate her, finding Libel's allegation was supported by nothing other than her own conclusory statements. We agree. In fact, Libel herself, in her deposition, states Matthew Krantz was the one who terminated her. Other than Libel's speculation, Libel's only support for her assertion that John Krantz made the decision to terminate her is a portion of John Krantz's testimony, which reads:

Q. Did [Matthew Krantz] say "I'm thinking of terminating her"?

A. I'm sure he did.

Q. What did you say?

A. That he was in charge, do as he sees fit.

Q. What was the last part?

A. "Do as you see fit."

Q. Did you understand that he was effectively getting your approval?

A. Yes.

Q. And you didn't object to terminating Judy?

A. No.

See Appellant's App'x at 131-131A.

This testimony indicates Matthew Krantz decided independently to terminate Libel. The testimony evidence does not reflect John Krantz either made the decision or used Matthew as a conduit to terminate Libel. See Dedmon v. Staley, 315 F.3d 948, 949-50 n. 2 (8th Cir.2003) (holding an employer, under certain circumstances, can be liable where the formal decision maker is not the person who harbored an unlawful motive to terminate the employee). But, even if we could conclude...