Novotny v. Great American Federal S. & L. Ass'n

Citation430 F. Supp. 227
Decision Date22 April 1977
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 76-1580.
PartiesJohn R. NOVOTNY v. GREAT AMERICAN FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Stanley M. Stein, Feldstein, Bloom, Greinberg, Stein & McKee, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff.

Eugene K. Connors, Walter G. Bleil, Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendants.

OPINION

SNYDER, District Judge.

John R. Novotny filed this Complaint against Great American Federal Savings & Loan (GAF) under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), invoking jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., alleging that GAF fired him from his position because he charged them with discrimination against female employees. GAF has moved to dismiss the Complaint, and the Motion will be granted.

John Novotny was employed by GAF in 1950 and at the time of his termination was an undesignated employee, having not been reelected as Secretary or as a Member of the Board of Directors. He contends that from January, 1966, the individual Defendants, on behalf of GAF, "embarked upon a course of conduct the effect of which was to deny the female employees equal employment opportunity . . . for promotion and advancement." He listed the following types of actions:

"(a) Promoting male employees with less experience, fewer years of service and less qualification over more qualified female employees;
(b) Providing education and training to male employees which was not provided to female employees;
(c) Making known to male employees job vacancies which were not made known to female employees;
(d) Evaluating male employees in accordance with different and subjective criteria than those applied to female employees;
(e) Catagorizing sic certain jobs as `male' or `female' and promoting in accordance with these categories;
(f) Creating an atmosphere inimical to the asperations sic of female employees by subjecting all female employees to the supervision and control sic
(g) By providing different and lesser degrees of fringe benefits to female employees than to male employees;
(h) By demoting qualified female employees and replacing them with less qualified male employees."

The female employees had expressed their dissatisfaction with the company's policy, and one of them was fired. Novotny alleges that he supported the female employees before the Board and claims a conspiracy of the individual Defendants to prevent his support of equal employment rights for women. He demands money damages from the Defendants in his Complaint and asks that they be enjoined from any further acts of discrimination and ordered to comply with applicable provisions of the law dealing with equal employment opportunity.1

NOVOTNY'S STANDING

The Defendants assert Novotny's lack of standing since he is not being discriminated against. Novotny counters that the Supreme Court in Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 29 L.Ed.2d 338 (1971), held that a plaintiff need not be a member of the class toward which the invidiously discriminatory animus is directed. The Defendants distinguish Richardson v. Miller, 446 F.2d 1247 (3d Cir. 1971) which allowed a nonmember to recover, stating that decision was based on the fact the plaintiff was proceeding pro se and that fact persuaded the court to be more liberal in its application of the § 1985(3) remedy. Also, the Defendants contend that the Richardson case dealt with an issue of race discrimination, and that discrimination on that basis is per se invidious, whereas the discrimination alleged to have occurred here is one based on sex, which does not enjoy the same status in the courts.

This issue has been addressed by another member of this Court in Pendrell v. Chatham College, 386 F.Supp. 341, 348 (W.D. Pa.1974),2 where Judge Hubert I. Teitelbaum said (at p. 348):

"The first question here then is whether a § 1985(3) claim must be based upon an allegation of conspiracy to discriminate because of membership in a racial or perhaps otherwise class-based group or whether an allegation of conspiracy to discriminate because of one's advocacy of the rights of such a group is sufficient. Following what I believe to be the clear inference from Judge Gibbons' expression in Phillips, I hold that discrimination because of advocacy of the rights of a racial or otherwise class-based group is sufficient. Nothing less would appear to be compatible with making `. . . actionable private conspiracies to deprive a citizen of the equal enjoyment of rights secured to all.' I do not mean by this to preclude an even broader extension in an appropriate case. Whether such application might be indicated under other circumstances, I need not here consider because the factual situation here presented does not necessitate such decision."

We realize that Pendrell, as a woman, was a member of the protected class. (Deft's Brief 11-12). In Judge Teitelbaum's earlier opinion in Pendrell (370 F.Supp. 494 (W.D.Pa.1974)), it was pointed out that she was terminated from her employment for "academic and extracurricular involvement in the struggles of black people and women for liberation, for basic equality, and freedom of oppression."

We believe that under the Pendrell decisions Novotny is not barred from bringing this suit under § 1958(3) simply because he is a male since he alleges suffering a sex-based discrimination.

ACTS BY A SINGLE ENTITY

The Defendants contend that any acts here were by a single entity and thus no conspiracy is charged. They point to Dombrowski v. Dowling, 459 F.2d 190 (7th Cir. 1972), in which the plaintiff, a white lawyer, allegedly was denied the opportunity to rent office space from a corporate landlord and its agents when the landlord found that many of the plaintiff's clients were black. In deciding the adequacy of the allegations of the Complaint to sustain a claim of § 1985(3) violation, the Seventh Circuit stated: (at p. 196)

". . . if the challenged conduct is essentially a single act of discrimination by a single business entity, the fact that two or more agents participated in the decision or in the act itself will normally not constitute the conspiracy contemplated by this statute. Cf. Morrison v. California, 291 U.S. 82, 92, 54 S.Ct. 281, 78 L.Ed. 664. In this case we believe the evidence fails to establish this element of a § 1985(3) violation."

We note in Rackin v. University of Pennsylvania, 386 F.Supp. 992 (E.D.Pa.1974), an English professor claimed denial of tenure by the University, despite recommendations from the tenured members of her department, because she was a woman. The Court denied application of the Dombrowski characterization saying: (at pp. 1005-06)

"the plaintiff has alleged many continuing instances of discrimination and harassing treatment by the alleged conspirators. Her allegations comprise much more than `essentially a single act of discrimination by a single business entity' and therefore the Dombrowski decision is inapplicable."

Novotny here claims that the Complaint has described, with sufficient factual specificity, numerous acts and patterns of discrimination practiced by the corporation against its female employees since 1966, and that therefore an application of the Rackin analysis is appropriate.

We believe that Novotny has overlooked an essential element here in that he has suffered only one act of discrimination: his termination in January, 1975.3 The Complaint does list many acts done by the corporation for which female employees may possibly have a recourse, but those acts were not directed to the Plaintiff himself.

In Rackin the court rejected the defendant's contention that Rackin suffered but one act of discrimination (denial of tenure) because the facts alleged in the complaint, if true, clearly showed that she was denied, for a period of at least eight years, privileges enjoyed by the other faculty members because of her sex.

Taking Novotny's allegations in his Complaint as true,4 he has suffered but a single act of "business entity" discrimination by his termination. More is needed to sustain a claim under § 1985(3) and the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss will be granted as to that cause of action.5

THE ALLEGED § 2000e VIOLATION

In their brief, the Defendants contest Novotny's use of 42 U.S.C. § 2000e which provides (2000e-3):

"It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his
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8 cases
  • Great American Federal Savings Loan Association v. Novotny
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 11, 1979
    ...could not be invoked because the directors of a single corporation could not, as a matter of law and fact, engage in a conspiracy. 430 F.Supp. 227, 230.5 Novotny appealed. After oral argument before a three-judge panel, the case was reargued before the en banc Court of Appeals for the Third......
  • Peck v. United States, 76 Civ. 983 (CES).
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    ...discriminatory racial animus was directed. Richardson v. Miller, 446 F.2d 1247, 1249 (3d Cir. 1971); Novotny v. Great American Federal S. & L. Ass'n., 430 F.Supp. 227, 229 (W.D.Pa.1977). The individual defendants contend that even if plaintiff has stated a cause of action, they are entitled......
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    ...district court found defamatory and libelous statements to be outside of the opposition clause. Cf. Novotny v. Great American Federal S. & L. Ass'n, 430 F.Supp. 227, 230-231 (W.D.Pa.1977) limiting Section 704(a) to protection of those participating in an administrative or judicial proceedin......
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