Mathews v. Huntington

• Decision Date: 29 June 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-CV-4721 (JFB)(AKT).,05-CV-4721 (JFB)(AKT).
• Citation: 499 F.Supp.2d 258
• Parties: Joseph MATHEWS, Plaintiff, v. Atria HUNTINGTON and Alex Stehly, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

499 F.Supp.2d 258

Joseph MATHEWS, Plaintiff, v. Atria HUNTINGTON and Alex Stehly, Defendants.

No. 05-CV-4721 (JFB)(AKT).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

June 29, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Scott M. Mishkin, Esq., Scott Michael Mishkin, P.C., Islandia, NY, for Plaintiff.

Scott Browning Gilly, Esq., Thompson, Wigdor & Gilly LLP, New York, NY, and Thomas J. Birchfield, Esq., and Jay W. Warren, Esq., Greenebaum Doll & Mc-Donald, Louisville, KY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOSEPH F. BIANCO, District Judge.

Plaintiff Joseph Mathews brings this action alleging employment discrimination based on his age in violation of the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq. (the "ADEA"), and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law §§ 290 et seq. ("NYHRL"). Specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendant Atria Huntington, and one of its employees, defendant Alex Stehly, discriminated against plaintiff by terminating him because of his age. Defendants move for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, defendants' motion is granted in its entirety.

I. BACKGROUND

Construed in a light most favorable to plaintiff, the non-moving party, the facts are as follows:

Atria owns and operates a senior living facility located in Huntington, New York ("Atria Huntington"). (Compl.¶ 7.) Plaintiff Joseph Mathews ("Mathews") was hired as the Food Services Director at Atria Huntington in July 2001, when he was sixty-one years of age. (Dfts.' 56.1 ¶ 2.)¹ Plaintiff obtained the position after interviewing with Joe Geiser ("Geiser") Atria's Regional Food Service Director. (Id. ¶ 3.)

According to defendants, during plaintiffs period of employment, Alex Stehly ("Stehly"), Executive Director of Atria Huntington, received complaints from residents of Atria Huntington and their family members regarding the quality of food offered at the facility. (Id. ¶ 7; Pl.'s 56.1 ¶ 7.) Moreover, during plaintiffs employment, results of survey: of residents regarding the quality of food service at Atria Huntington would, according to plaintiff, "improve" during some periods, and "stay the same" or "go down" during others. (Id. at 95.) At some point in July, August, or September of 2004, Stehly met with plaintiff to discuss the resident survey results. (Dft.'s Ex. 1, at 93.) At the meeting with Stehly, plaintiff believed that there was "nothing to indicate that these people were not happy with the food service."² (Id. at 94.) Instead, according to plaintiffs deposition testimony, the reason for the occasional downturns in the survey results was that:

[E]lderly people always complain.... They always complain, no matter who's this [sic]. Because what they do is eat and complain, right?

(Id.)

In addition, throughout plaintiffs employment at Atria Huntington, he failed to comply with Atria Huntington's policy requiring employees to order a certain percentage of food products from a specific vendor, Sysco. (Dfts.' ¶ 8.) Specifically, according to plaintiff, Geiser established a policy whereby plaintiff was required to order 85% of Atria Huntington's requirement of food products from Sysco. (Dfts.' Ex. 1, at 106.) However, while plaintiff was aware of this requirement and ordered some products from Sysco, he failed, as a matter of course, to order the volume of products from Sysco "that they [Atria Huntington] wanted." (Id., at 108-09.)

In mid-September 2004, plaintiff had an encounter with one of his subordinates, Maria Rosaria Napolitano ("Napolitano"), wherein plaintiff spoke to Napolitano using an "intense" and "strong[]" tone. (Id. ¶ 9.) According to Napolitano and a supervisor who witnessed the encounter, Patricia LaBarbera ("LaBarbera"), plaintiff yelled loudly and cursed at Napolitano; plaintiff does not recall if he used profanities when speaking to Napolitano. (Id. ¶¶ 12-14; Pl.'s 56.1 ¶¶ 12-14.) Stehly discussed with LaBarbera the encounter between plaintiff and Napolitano. (Dfts.' 56.1 ¶ 15.) Thereafter, according to Stehly, he met with Geiser and they agreed that plaintiffs conduct warranted termination. (Id. ¶ 18; Pl.'s 56.1 ¶ 18.)

On October 4, 2004, Stehly and another Atria Huntington supervisor, Jill Dragotta ("Dragotta"), met with plaintiff to inform him of his termination. (Dfts.' 56.1 ¶ 19.) At that meeting, Stehly stated that he had learned that plaintiff had "yelled" at Napolitano, and he fired plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 20.) At the time of plaintiffs termination, Stehly was forty-five years old, and Geiser was fifty-one years old.³ (Dfts.' Ex. 13.)

Plaintiff initiated this action on October 6, 2005. Defendants moved for summary judgment on February 19, 2007. Oral argument was held on June 20, 2007.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Summary Judgment Standard

The standards for summary judgment are well settled. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c), a court may not grant a motion for summary judgment unless "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Globecon Group, LLC v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., 434 F.3d 165, 170 (2d Cir.2006). The moving party bears the burden of showing that he or she is entitled to summary judgment. See Huminski v. Corsones, 396 F.3d 53, 69 (2d Cir.2005). The court "is not to weigh the evidence but is instead required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, to draw all reasonable inferences in favor of that party, and to eschew credibility assessments." Amnesty Am. v. Town of W. Hartford, 361 F.3d 113, 122 (2d Cir.2004); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (summary judgment is unwarranted if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party").

Once the moving party has met its burden, the opposing party "must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts .... [T]he nonmoving party must come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Calda rola v. Calabrese, 298 F.3d 156, 160 (2d Cir.2002) (quoting Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)). As the Supreme Court stated in Anderson, "[i]f the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citations omitted). Indeed, "the mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties" alone will not defeat a properly supported motion for summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Thus, the nonmoving party may not rest upon mere conclusory allegations or denials, but must set forth "concrete particulars" showing that a trial is needed. R.G. Group, Inc. v. Horn, & Hardart Co., 751 F.2d 69, 77 (2d Cir.1984) (internal quotations omitted). Accordingly, it is insufficient for a party opposing summary judgment "merely to assert a conclusion without supplying supporting arguments or facts." BellSouth Telecomms., Inc. v. W.R. Grace & Co., 77 F.3d 603, 615 (2d Cir.1996) (internal quotations omitted). The Second Circuit has provided additional guidance regarding summary judgment motions in discrimination cases:

We have sometimes noted that an extra measure of caution is merited in affirming summary judgment in a discrimination action because direct evidence of discriminatory intent is rare and such intent often must be inferred from circumstantial evidence found in affidavits and depositions. See, e.g. Gallo v. Prudential Residential Servs., 22 F.3d 1219, 1224 (2d Cir.1994). Nonetheless, "summary judgment remains available for the dismissal of discrimination claims in cases lacking genuine issues of material fact." McLee v. Chrysler Corp., 109 F.3d 130, 135 (2d Cir.1997); see also Abdu-Brisson v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 239 F.3d 456, 466 (2d Cir.2001) ("It is now beyond cavil that summary judgment may be appropriate even in the fact-intensive context of discrimination cases.").

Schiano v. Quality Payroll Sys., 445 F.3d 597, 603 (2d Cir.2006) (quoting Holtz v. Rockefeller & Co., 258 F.3d 62, 69 (2d Cir.2001)).

B. Age Discrimination Under the ADEA⁴

1. Legal Standard

The ADEA states, it is "unlawful for an employer ... to discharge an individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age." 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1). Because plaintiff presents no direct evidence of discriminatory treatment based on his age, the Court reviews his ADEA claim under the three-step, burden-shifting framework established by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973); see D'Cuuilia v. Genovese/Eckerd Corp., 479 F.3d 193, 194 (2d Cir.2007); Woodman v. WWOR-TV, Inc., 411 F.3d 69, 76 (2d Cir.2005). To establish a prima facie case of age discrimination, a plaintiff must demonstrate that: "(i) at the relevant time the plaintiff was a member of the protected class; (ii) the plaintiff was qualified for the job; (iii) the plaintiff suffered an adverse employment action; and (iv) the adverse employment action occurred under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination, such as the fact that the plaintiff was replaced by someone `substantially younger'" Roge v. NYP Holdings, Inc., 257 F.3d 164, 168 (2d Cir. 2001) (quoting O'Connor v. Consol. Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308, 313, 116 S.Ct. 1307, 134 L.Ed.2d 433 (1996)). The Second Circuit has characterized the evidence necessary for the plaintiff to satisfy this initial burden as "minimal" and "de minimis." See Zimmermann v. Assocs. First Capital Corp., 251 F.3d 376, 381 (2d Cir. 2001)...