McManus v. District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 31 December 2007
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 07-252 (CKK).
• Citation: 530 F.Supp.2d 46
• Parties: Edna McMANUS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

530 F.Supp.2d 46

Edna McMANUS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 07-252 (CKK).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

December 31, 2007.

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James Quincy Butler, Butler Legal Group, PLLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.

Martha J. Mullen, Office of Corporation Counsel, Brenda Catherine Zwack, O'Donnell, Schwartz & Anderson, P.C., Andres M. Grajales, American Federation of Government Employees, Mark J. Murphy, John R. Mooney, Mooney, Green, Baker & Saindon, PC, Alison N. Davis, Ford & Harrison LLP, Frank Charles Morris, Jr., Brian Wayne Steinbach, Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C., Laura E. Jordan, Law Offices of Laura E. Jordan, P.C., Charles B. Wayne, DLA Piper U.S. LLP, John W. Bramlette, Nixon Peabody, LLP, Washington, DC, Thomas V. McCarron, Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, MD, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY, District Judge.

The Plaintiffs in this action are sixteen¹ current and former employees of various District of Columbia government agencies, who bring an amalgam of claims against fourteen Defendants: the District of Columbia (the "District"), five labor unions (the "Labor Union Defendants"),² five health care management companies (the "Health Care Defendants"),³ two insurance companies,⁴ and one physician (collectively, "Defendants"). Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint is rather opaque, but generally appears to allege that the Defendants engaged in a conspiracy to violate Plaintiffs' rights by depriving them of administrative relief in connection with a "benefit derived from [their] employment." Although Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint includes eight Counts, four of those Counts are more properly described as prayers for relief than legal causes of action (Counts 5-8). The four substantive Counts of Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint allege that all of the Defendants breached the employment contract and collective bargaining agreements in place among the District, its employees, and the Labor Union Defendants (Counts 1 and 2), that the Labor Union Defendants breached their duties of fair representation to Plaintiffs (Count 3), and that the District and the Labor Union, Defendants deprived Plaintiffs of due process of law (Count 4).

Twelve of the Defendants have now moved to dismiss Plaintiffs' claims by filing motions to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), 12(b)(5), and 12(b)(6). Upon a searching review of the filings currently before the Court in connection with those motions to dismiss, the attachments thereto, the relevant statutes and case law, and the entire record herein, the Court shall GRANT each of the currently pending motions to dismiss, and shall dismiss this action in its entirety. Two of the Defendants to this action — AFGE and Concentra — have also filed separate motions for sanctions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(c). The Court concludes that Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint and Oppositions are devoid of factual or legal merit, but declines to impose sanctions on the grounds that Plaintiffs' counsel was aware of the Amended Complaint's deficiencies before filing it. In contrast, the Court shall grant Concentra's motion for sanctions insofar as it is based on Plaintiffs counsel's filing of an inaccurate Return of Service with respect to Concentra while on notice that Concentra had not been validly served with process in this action. The Court shall therefore DENY AFGE's Motion for Sanctions, and shall GRANT Concentra's Motion for Sanctions.

I: BACKGROUND

A. Parties

The Amended Complaint contains two boilerplate allegations regarding each Plaintiff: (1) that he or she was "at all times set forth herein an employee of an agency of the District of Columbia;" and (2) that he or she "has filed appropriate notice of claim at various times, with the appropriate agencies during the events of this matter, and has exhausted all `KNOWN' administrative remedies." See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 12-17. In addition, the Amended Complaint includes the following particularized allegations as to the individual Plaintiffs:

• Plaintiff Edna McManus was employed by the Department of Corrections as a Correctional Officer and was a member of a local affiliated with Defendant FOP. McManus suffered an unidentified work-related job injury on February 26, 2002, was subsequently diagnosed with bi-lateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and Med a workers' compensation claim on March 27, 2002. McManus alleges that her claim was improperly denied on April 8, 2002 and that she was denied "monetary, medical, Cost of Living Adjustments (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006), transportation mileage, medical prescriptions, and life insurance benefits" on January 30, 2006. McManus further alleges that on July 27, 2006 she was denied medical expenses for a claim processed by CLW/CDM, on the ground that no injury existed. McManus also alleges that subsequent claims were denied on April 5, 2005; July 25, 2006;. January 3, 2007; March 6, 2007; and March 29, 2007. Id. ¶ 2.

• Plaintiff Gaynell Nixon was employed as an `Assistant Housing Manager by the Housing Authority and was a member of a local affiliated with Defendant AFGE. Nixon filed a claim for a work-related injury to her right foot and ankle on January 23, 1996, which was initially denied on or about October 31, 1996. That denial was subsequently reversed by an Administrative Law Judge on October 8, 1997, and then denied again on September 28, 1998 by a claims examiner for "Cor Vel Corp." Nixon's claim was denied again on `September 2, 2004 under a new claim number. Nixon filed a second claim on or about March 5, 2001 relating to a February 21, 2001 injury, which was denied on October 4, 2005; January 6, 2006, and January 23, 2006. Id. ¶ 3.

• Plaintiff Shirley Massey was employed as a Secretary/Administrative Assistant by the University of the District of Columbia and was a member of a local affiliated with AFSCME. Plaintiffs do not allege that Massey filed any workers' compensation claims or that her employment was terminated. Id. ¶ 4.

• Plaintiff Sandra Mitchner was employed as a Position Classification Specialist for the Office of Personnel and was not a member of any labor union. Mitchner incurred an injury on February 12, 1990 from inhaling a mist in the air near her workspace and was taken to Providence Hospital. "After filing claims, and suffering a series of denials, [Mitchner] was terminated in 2004." Id. ¶ 5.

• Plaintiff William Workcuff was employed as a Maintenance Mechanic by the Housing Authority and was a member of a local affiliated with AFGE. Workcuff was injured on the job on February 21, 2002, and was treated by a doctor on March 13, 2002. Workcuff "filed an authorized claim," which "was improperly denied by Defendants, acting through [a doctor] at Providence Hospital, on or about June 13, 2002, based upon an unsubstantiated determination that the subjective complaints of Workcuff were not causally related to the work-related accident." Id. ¶ 6.

• Plaintiff Edward Clark was employed as a School Bus Driver by the District of Columbia Public Schools for approximately 10 years, and was a member of a local affiliated with AFSCME. On June 23, 2005, Clark was terminated for allegedly having residue of illegal drugs in a urine test. Clark attempted to appeal his termination, but on October 19, 2006 "was denied to be heard and never received any termination papers." Id. ¶ 7.

• Plaintiff Slatel Dillon was employed as an Electrical Repair Mechanic by the Water and Sewer Authority for eighteen years, and was a member of a local affiliated with AFSCME. Dillon incurred injury to his lower back in the course of his employment on or about September 15, 2003. Although a medical report dated February 3, 2006 determined that Dillon had suffered injury to his lower back and required vocational rehabilitation, "[Dillon]'s claim was denied, and [Dillon] was terminated." Dillon was previously injured in June 27, 2002, and asserts that each of his claims was "unjustifiably denied." Id. ¶ 8.

• Plaintiff Audrey Tucker was employed as a School Bus Attendant and was a current dues paying member of Teamsters Local 639. "Tucker's Union records have been destroyed, and the Union has denied Tucker representation." Tucker alleges that she "has been repeatedly denied employee benefits for injuries suffered and incurred related to employment," but does not provide further details as to the nature of her injuries or the claims she filed, and does not detail the context in which she was denied union representation. Id. ¶ 9.

• Plaintiff Arzella Smith was employed as a School Bus Driver by the District of Columbia. Public Schools and was a member of a local affiliated with AFSCME. Smith was served with a traffic citation on March 20, 2006 for being involved in a traffic accident, and was terminated on April 5, 2006. Smith alleges that she "had previously been suspended based upon an allegation which physically could not have occurred, as she was not present, on October 3, 2005," and that her "union representatives had abandoned her, in violation of her union contract." Id. ¶ 10.

• Plaintiff Geraldine Talley Hobby was employed as an Art Teacher by the District of Columbia Public Schools and was a member of a local affiliated with WTU. Plaintiffs allege that Hobby filed a claim on March 1, 1997, but do not indicate the nature of Hobby's claim or whether it involved a work-related injury. Id. ¶ 11.⁵

• Plaintiff Erwin Diggs was employed as a School Bus Driver by the District of Columbia Public Schools and was a member of a local affiliated with AFSCME. Diggs filed disability claims in May 2000 and April 2006, which were defied. Diggs "was then subjected to a wrongful termination and his medical and dental benefits were extinguished. ...