Mcdonald v. Antelope Valley Community Coll.

Decision Date27 October 2008
Docket NumberNo. S153964.,S153964.
Citation194 P.3d 1026,45 Cal.4th 88,84 Cal.Rptr.3d 734
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
PartiesJohn McDONALD et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. ANTELOPE VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT, Defendant and Respondent.

Christopher Brizzolara, Playa Del Rey; Goldberg & Gage, Bradley C. Gage, Woodland Hills; Law Offices of Gregory W. Smith, Gregory W. Smith; Benedon & Serlin, Douglas G. Benedon, Los Angeles, and Gerald M. Serlin for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Carpenter, Rothans & Dumont, Steven J. Rothans, Jill W. Babington and Justin Reade Sarno, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Respondent.

Latham & Watkins and Joel E. Krischer for Employers Group as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

Sidley Austin, James M. Harris, Jennifer Altfeld Landau, Los Angeles, and David R. Carpenter for League of California Cities as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

When an employee voluntarily pursues an internal administrative remedy prior to filing a complaint under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov.Code, § 12900 et seq.) (FEHA), is the statute of limitations on her FEHA claim subject to equitable tolling? We conclude it is. Accordingly, we affirm the Court of Appeal, which reversed a defense summary judgment entered solely on the ground that plaintiff Sylvia Brown's FEHA claim was untimely.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs John McDonald, Sylvia Brown, and Sallie Stryker filed suit against defendant Antelope Valley Community College District (the District) alleging racial harassment, racial discrimination, and retaliation. The trial court entered judgment for the District on all claims on the ground the claims were time-barred. The Court of Appeal reversed as to McDonald and Brown and affirmed as to Stryker.

We granted the District's petition for review, limited to a single issue pertinent only to the analysis of Brown's claims: May equitable tolling apply to the voluntary pursuit of internal administrative procedures prior to filing a FEHA claim? Accordingly, we detail the factual and procedural history principally as it relates to Brown. Because the case is before us following entry of a defense summary judgment, we "view the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiffs as the losing parties" and "liberally construe plaintiffs' evidentiary submissions and strictly scrutinize defendant['s] own evidence, in order to resolve any evidentiary doubts or ambiguities in plaintiffs' favor." (Wiener v. Southcoast Childcare Centers, Inc. (2004) 32 Cal.4th 1138, 1142, 12 Cal.Rptr.3d 615, 88 P.3d 517.)

According to plaintiffs' second amended complaint and declarations submitted to the trial court, Brown, an African-American, was hired by the District in 1998 as a library technician's assistant. She remains in that position. In October 1999, the District listed an opening for a database administrator. Under the governing collective bargaining agreement, in-house applicants who met the minimum qualifications were to be interviewed. Brown applied for the database administrator position and satisfied the position's qualifications but was not interviewed. The District refused to interview Brown because of her race and instead selected a non-African-American to fill the position. Brown filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

In approximately June 2000, the database administrator the District hired was asked to resign because of poor performance. Brown applied again, but the District again declined to interview her. It relented only after Brown protested; however, the January 2001 interview was a sham because it was conducted well after the other applicants for the position had already been interviewed and after a decision had already been made about the position. The District again chose a non-African-American for the position. Brown alleged the District's refusal to interview her was motivated by her race and was in retaliation for having previously complained to the EEOC.

In October 2001, Brown complained of discrimination in a letter to the Vice Chancellor of Human Resources at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (Chancellor's Office). She followed up by filing a formal discrimination complaint with the Chancellor's Office in early November 2001. The Chancellor's Office forwarded her complaint to the District for it to investigate and "urge[d] [Brown] to work with the [D]istrict to resolve this matter." The Chancellor's Office further advised Brown the District would have until January 31, 2002, to resolve the complaint, and Brown thereafter would have a right to appeal to the local board of trustees and, in some cases, to the Chancellor's Office. Finally, the Chancellor's Office advised Brown she could file a FEHA complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) at any time.

The District hired a private firm to investigate Brown's and the other plaintiffs' allegations. On or about January 30, 2002, the District received a copy of the firm's investigative report concluding plaintiffs' discrimination allegations were unsubstantiated, and the District so informed plaintiffs. On February 14, 2002, plaintiffs appealed these findings to the District's board of trustees. The board of trustees affirmed the findings. In approximately November 2002, plaintiffs appealed to the Chancellor's Office. In May 2003, after a further investigation, the Chancellor's Office concluded plaintiffs' discrimination allegations were unsubstantiated.

While these internal proceedings were pending, Brown filed an administrative complaint with the DFEH on October 11, 2002, alleging both race and sex discrimination. She received a right-to-sue letter dated October 24, 2002. She filed suit in the superior court on October 24, 2003, and subsequently filed two amended complaints. The second amended complaint alleges the District violated the FEHA by engaging in racial harassment and discrimination, by retaliating against plaintiffs for their assertion of their rights, and by failing to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and retaliation. It alleges numerous systemic, long-standing discriminatory practices. The merits of these allegations are not before us, and we express no opinion on them.

The District filed motions for summary judgment or adjudication against each plaintiff, arguing both that their claims failed on the merits and that they were untimely. Thereafter, the parties stipulated the trial court should decide only the statute of limitations issue: whether plaintiffs' administrative complaints were timely filed with the DFEH within one year of the alleged unlawful acts, as required by Government Code section 12960, subdivision (d).

With respect to Brown, the District argued (1) the last act complained of occurred in January 2001; (2) her DFEH complaint was filed in October 2002, more than one year later; and (3) although Brown filed a discrimination complaint with the Chancellor's Office in November 2001, equitable tolling should not apply to the period during which she was pursuing that remedy. The District emphasized a November 7, 2001, letter sent to each plaintiff that provided in part: "[T]he Chancellor's Office does not have primary jurisdiction over employment related cases and in order to obtain a final determination, you must file your complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. ... You may file a complaint with DFEH at any[]time before or after the [D]istrict issues its report and you may do so whether or not you also submit objections to the Chancellor's Office."

In response, Brown argued her DFEH complaint was timely both because she had demonstrated continuing violations through and including December 2002 and because she was entitled to equitable tolling. With respect to tolling, she submitted evidence of her 2001 written complaints to the Chancellor's Office. This internal proceeding was initiated within one year of the January 2001 failure to hire her, tolled the statute of limitations beginning in October or November 2001, and was still ongoing when she filed her DFEH complaint. Accordingly, she argued, her October 2002 complaint was timely.

The trial court concluded that because the Chancellor's Office had advised plaintiffs they could file a complaint with the DFEH simultaneously with the Chancellor's Office internal proceedings, plaintiffs were not entitled to equitable tolling. After soliciting supplemental briefing, it further found all three plaintiffs had failed to show a continuing violation. Accordingly, the trial court granted summary judgment, holding plaintiffs' administrative FEHA complaints untimely under Government Code section 12960, subdivision (d).

The Court of Appeal affirmed as to Stryker but reversed as to McDonald and Brown. In reversing the judgment against Brown, the Court of Appeal held traditional equitable tolling principles may apply to extend the statute of limitations for filing a FEHA administrative complaint. It further concluded there was a triable issue of fact as to whether application of equitable tolling principles rendered Brown's October 2002 administrative complaint timely.

We confined our grant of review to a single issue: whether equitable tolling may apply to the pursuit of internal administrative remedies prior to filing a FEHA claim.

DISCUSSION
I. Equitable Tolling During the Voluntary Pursuit of Administrative Remedies
A. The Doctrine of Equitable Tolling

The equitable tolling of statutes of limitations is a judicially created, nonstatutory doctrine. (See Elkins v. Derby (1974) 12 Cal.3d 410, 420 & fn. 9, 115 Cal.Rptr. 641, 525 P.2d 81; Mills v. Forestex Co. (2003) 108 Cal.App.4th 625, 650, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 273.) It is "designed to prevent unjust and technical forfeitures of the right to a trial on the merits when the purpose of the statute of limitations — timely...

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