Nestor v. Pratt & Whitney

• Citation: 466 F.3d 65
• Decision Date: 04 October 2006
• Docket Number: Docket No. 05-1754-cv.
• Parties: Gale NESTOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PRATT & WHITNEY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

466 F.3d 65

Gale NESTOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. PRATT & WHITNEY, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 05-1754-cv.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: November 22, 2005.

Decided: October 4, 2006.

Philip L. Steele, Hartford, CT, for Plaintiff-Appellant Gale Nestor.

Albert Zakarian, Day, Berry & Howard, LLP, Hartford, CT, for Defendant-Appellee Pratt & Whitney.

Before JACOBS, Chief Judge, WINTER and WALKER, Circuit Judges.

Judge WALKER concurs only in Part I, Part II.A, and Part II.B.2 and in the result. Judge WINTER concurs only in Part I, Part II.A, and Part II.B.1.

DENNIS JACOBS, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant Gale Nestor ("Nestor") filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities ("CCHRO") against her former employer, United Technologies Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Division ("Pratt"), alleging that her employment had been terminated by reason of her sex. She prevailed in the CCHRO, prevailed as well on the appeals taken by Pratt in the Connecticut state courts, and collected damages of back pay and interest. She later filed this action in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Covello, J.), pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as amended by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 ("Title VII"), seeking damages that were unavailable in the CCHRO proceedings: attorney's fees, compensatory damages for emotional distress, and punitive damages (collectively referred to as "additional relief").¹

Pratt successfully moved for summary judgment on the ground that Nestor's action is barred by Connecticut's doctrine of res judicata (or "claim preclusion"). We vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I.

Gale Nestor worked as a machinist for Pratt from 1973 until September 2, 1992, when she was fired after she allegedly had an altercation with a male employee. Nestor was reinstated, without back pay, in 1993 pursuant to a labor arbitration. On November 5, 1992, Nestor filed a complaint against Pratt with the CCHRO, claiming that her employment had been terminated on account of her sex, in violation of Title VII and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-60 et seq. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(c) (requiring notification of state or local authorities). Her complaint was automatically cross-filed with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC").

The CCHRO apparently advised Nestor that it could not award compensatory damages, but that full damages could be awarded in state court. At that point, Nestor had a choice: she could pursue the CCHRO proceeding, or after passage of a "deferral" period, she could have requested a "right-to-sue" letter and brought an action in state or federal court to recover full relief.² Nestor went ahead with the CCHRO proceeding, which offered her certain advantages:

representation by CCHRO staff counsel (at a fee below the cost of private counsel), flexible evidentiary rules, no requirement of discovery, and speedy proceedings (though this last advantage was not realized in Nestor's case).

The CCHRO conducted the public hearing on Nestor's claim in June 1998, and decided the case on September 20, 1999, finding that Pratt terminated Nestor's employment based on her sex, and awarding Nestor back pay.

Pratt appealed to the Connecticut Superior Court, which affirmed the CCHRO decision on February 20, 2001. Pratt further appealed to the Connecticut Appellate Court, which also affirmed on September 10, 2001. Pratt's timely petition for certification to the Connecticut Supreme Court was denied. Pratt thereafter paid Nestor back pay, with interest.

On February 19, 2003, the EEOC issued Nestor a right-to-sue letter. Nestor promptly filed this action in the District of Connecticut, seeking as sole relief those remedies that are available to Title VII claimants, but that the CCHRO was not authorized to award, including compensatory damages (presumably in addition to— and not duplicative of—the back pay already received), punitive damages, attorney's fees, and prejudgment interest.

Pratt moved for summary judgment in March 2004, arguing that Connecticut's doctrine of res judicata bars Nestor's action. The district court agreed, and granted summary judgment to Pratt on March 31, 2005. Nestor timely appealed.

II.

The issue presented on appeal is whether a Title VII plaintiff who prevailed on her discrimination claims before a state administrative agency and in appeals of the agency decision to state court can subsequently file suit in federal court seeking relief that was unavailable in the state proceedings. This issue has split our sister circuit courts. Compare Jones v. Am. State Bank, 857 F.2d 494 (8th Cir.1988) (holding that Title VII plaintiff may bring suit to recover attorney's fees after successfully litigating before a state administrative body), Patzer v. Bd. of Regents, 763 F.2d 851, 858 (7th Cir.1985) (holding that state court judgment affirming an administrative decision did not bar a subsequent federal action for additional relief because of "national policy that Title VII remedies be available to supplement state remedies for employment discrimination"), Lewis v. Ames Dept. Stores, Inc., No. 3:97CV1214 (CFD), 1999 WL 33116610 (D.Conn. Mar.31, 1999) (same); with Chris v. Tenet, 221 F.3d 648 (4th Cir.2000) (holding that federal court lacked jurisdiction to hear plaintiff's suit solely seeking attorney's fees incurred in a prior administrative action).

It is undisputed that the relief Nestor seeks under Title VII was unavailable in the state administrative proceedings. See Bridgeport Hosp. v. Comm'n on Human Rights & Opportunities, 232 Conn. 91, 653 A.2d 782 (Conn.1995). It is also undisputed that Nestor could have filed her federal action at any time after the 210-day deferral period required by Connecticut law had passed in her CCHRO proceeding. If Nestor had filed an action seeking additional relief while the CCHRO proceeding was pending, the CCHRO would have been required to relinquish its jurisdiction, and she would have lost the benefits of adjudication in that forum. Conn. Gen.Stat. Ann. § 46a-100. If Nestor had filed her action in federal court (or state court) while Pratt's appeals from the CCHRO determination was still pending, the issue presented on this appeal would likely not arise: A federal court will typically stay the action pending the state appeals and (when the appeals are decided) give res judicata effect to the result. See Kremer v. Chem. Const. Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 487 n. 3, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982).

Pratt urges, however, that after the state administrative decision withstood appeal and became final, additional relief was no longer available. Pratt offers two reasons: [i] subject matter jurisdiction does not exist over a "damages only" action;³ and [ii] the doctrine of res judicata bars relitigation, including relitigation of different claims to relief. We disagree with both arguments, and reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment.

A. Jurisdiction

In North Carolina Dept. of Transp. v. Crest Street Cmty. Council, Inc., 479 U.S. 6, 107 S.Ct. 336, 93 L.Ed.2d 188 (1986), the Supreme Court held that a district court lacked jurisdiction over an action seeking nothing but attorney's fees brought by Title VI plaintiffs who had prevailed in administrative proceedings. The Fourth Circuit has ruled that Crest applies likewise to Title VII plaintiffs, Chris, 221 F.3d at 654, and Pratt urges that this Court take a similar approach.

In the present action, however, not only does Nestor seek attorney's fees— which are specifically provided for in Title VII—she also seeks compensatory damages unavailable in the CCHRO proceeding, such as emotional distress and punitive damages.⁴ Her federal action thus entails litigation of substantive issues: for example, whether Nestor suffered any emotional distress caused by Pratt's discrimination and whether Pratt's conduct was malicious. Thus, it is not simply that Nestor seeks to recover for expenses incurred elsewhere; Nestor's federal action seeks to adjudicate substantive issues regarding Pratt's discriminatory conduct and its consequences.

In light of these distinctions, Crest neither compels nor supports the dismissal of Nestor's action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

B. Res judicata

We review de novo a district court decision as to whether a federal action is precluded by a prior adjudication. Hoblock v. Albany County Bd. of Elections, 422 F.3d 77, 93 (2d Cir.2005). The doctrine of res judicata bears on "the effect of a judgment in foreclosing litigation of a matter that never has been litigated, because of a determination that it should have been advanced in an earlier suit." Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Education, 465 U.S. 75, 77, n. 1, 104 S.Ct. 892, 79 L.Ed.2d 56 (1984).⁵ It is a rule against the splitting of actions that could be brought and resolved together. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 24 (providing "General Rule Concerning `Splitting'").

The doctrine varies in its effect from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, depending chiefly on how courts define the claims that have or could have been litigated, and on how much weight is put on the goals of preclusion (e.g., finality and efficiency). The parties to this appeal vigorously dispute whether the issue of preclusion is governed by federal law or Connecticut law; however, since Nestor's action survives either way, we do not decide the question, which implicates difficult issues of federalism. Marrese v. American Acad. of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 470 U.S. 373, 383, 105 S.Ct. 1327, 84 L.Ed.2d 274 (1985); see Lyng v. N.W. Indian Cemetery Protective Ass'n, 485 U.S. 439, 445, 108 S.Ct. 1319, 99 L.Ed.2d 534 (1988) ("A fundamental and long-standing principle of judicial restraint requires that courts avoid reaching...