Pittman v. Anaconda Wire & Cable Co.

• Decision Date: 20 April 1976
• Docket Number: No. 74-4-CIV-8.,74-4-CIV-8.
• Citation: 408 F. Supp. 286
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina
• Parties: Jerry W. PITTMAN, Plaintiff, v. ANACONDA WIRE AND CABLE COMPANY, Defendant.

408 F. Supp. 286

Jerry W. PITTMAN, Plaintiff, v. ANACONDA WIRE AND CABLE COMPANY, Defendant.

No. 74-4-CIV-8.

United States District Court, E. D. North Carolina, Wilson Division.

September 9, 1974.

As Amended April 20, 1976.

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J. LeVonne Chambers, Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Lanning, Charlotte, N. C., Charles L. Becton, Chambers, Stein, Ferguson & Lanning, Chapel Hill, N. C., for plaintiff.

Cameron S. Weeks, T. Chandler Muse, Weeks & Muse, Tarboro, N. C., LeGrande L. Young, Greenwich, Conn., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

DUPREE, District Judge.

This class action seeks widespread injunctive and declaratory relief for alleged racially discriminatory practices and procedures followed at the Tarboro, North Carolina plant of Anaconda Wire and Cable Company, together with redress for the discharge of the plaintiff representative. Jurisdiction is invoked pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343(3) and (4); 42 U.S.C. § 1981; 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., as amended (Title VII); and 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202. Now before the court for disposition are motions by both parties. After careful consideration of all the motions, and memoranda in support thereof, the court concludes that each of defendant's motions should be denied and that plaintiff's amended complaint should be allowed so that the action may proceed forthwith as a class action, the court expressly reserving its right to later dismiss the class action should matters of discovery render such action advisable.

The pleadings demonstrate the following material facts or factual allegations which the court accepts as true solely for purposes of this order. Plaintiff-representative Jerry W. Pittman is a black citizen whose previous employment at the Tarboro, North Carolina plant of Anaconda Wire and Cable Company was terminated on October 16, 1970, because of racial discrimination toward him occasioned in part by his vocal objection to certain of defendant's policies and practices. The class complaint avers racially discriminatory practices and policies of company-wide application relating to hiring, firing, employee transfers, promotions, job benefits, wages, job assignments and other general conditions of employment. The purported class includes all black persons who are or will be victims of these practices and policies, including all those black persons who have been denied employment because of race. Relief sought is reinstatement of Pittman, back pay for Pittman and all other members of the class, injunctive and declaratory relief concerning all discriminatory policies complained of, and any further relief this court might deem necessary to redress and eradicate any racial discrimination.

The chronological sequence of events leading to this litigation is important. Pittman was discharged on October 16, 1970. By letter dated that same date and received October 22, 1970, Pittman notified a Mrs. High, presumably of the EEOC, that he had been discharged because of his race, and further that "there was more than one case of discrimination." This letter referred to other correspondence to an unnamed party in Washington, D. C. as having also related repeated discriminatory acts. A formal sworn charge was not filed with the EEOC by Pittman until January 10, 1972; however, this formal charge referred to the charge having been originally filed on October 22, 1970. Defendant asserts that no other employee at the Tarboro plant has ever filed charges against Anaconda Wire and Cable Company. Between the dates of the original October 22 letter and the following sworn charge, defendant's manager of the Tarboro plant was twice notified by letter from EEOC personnel that an EEOC investigation was pending. This investigation having not achieved any conciliation agreement, Pittman was notified by letter from the EEOC, apparently received by plaintiff's counsel on December 11, 1973, that he could institute suit within ninety days of his receipt of that letter. This suit followed on January 11, 1974. Service was made on the North Carolina Secretary of State on January 14, 1974, then on January 18 the complaint and summons were delivered with a letter from the Secretary of State addressed to Anaconda Wire and Cable Company, Anaconda Reduction Works, Anaconda, Montana. John Barris, plant manager of the Tarboro plant, was then personally served on March 5, 1974.

I. PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER THE CORPORATE DEFENDANT

Defendant moves to dismiss the complaint against it for lack of jurisdiction over the corporate defendant. In support of this motion two grounds are asserted: first, that Anaconda Wire and Cable Company is not a legal entity with capacity to be sued so that service of process on it was ineffective; and, secondly, that plaintiff's amended complaint naming The Anaconda Company as the corporate defendant was not filed until June 4, 1974, and was, therefore, not maintainable because it was outside the statutorily-mandated ninety-day period following the right-to-sue letter. The first ground would be applicable to both the Title VII and section 1981 claims; the latter would be applicable only to the Title VII claim, the section 1981 claim being governed by a different period of limitations than that contained in Title VII.

The court is of the opinion that the amended complaint naming The Anaconda Company as defendant should be filed and allowed to relate back to the date of the original complaint, and accordingly defendant's attack on service of process must be denied. The personal service on John Barris at the Tarboro plant has not been contested except on the grounds that Anaconda Wire and Cable was named as defendant and it had no capacity to be sued. This service was perfected within the statutory ninety-day period. Anaconda Wire and Cable is a division of The Anaconda Company and all EEOC investigations had been directed toward the trade name corporation.

While it is true that the time limitations of Title VII are jurisdictional in nature, Mickel v. South Carolina State Employment Service, 377 F.2d 239 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 877, 88 S.Ct. 177, 19 L.Ed.2d 166 (1967); Tippett v. Liggett & Meyers Tobacco Company, 316 F.Supp. 292 (M.D.N.C.1970), it is also true that these jurisdictional requirements must not be technically construed to defeat the purpose of the Act. See Love v. Pullman, 404 U.S. 522, 92 S.Ct. 616, 30 L.Ed.2d 679 (1972); Washington v. T. G. & Y. Stores Company, 324 F.Supp. 849 (W.D.La.1971). Cf. Phillips v. Columbia Gas of West Virginia, Inc., 347 F.Supp. 533 (S.D.W.Va.1972), aff'd without opinion, 474 F.2d 1342 (4th Cir. 1973). The policy of the Act is best served in this case by allowing the amended complaint to correct retroactively a mere misnomer of the corporate party. This result is supported by a well reasoned district court opinion decided on closely analogous facts. Washington v. T. G. & Y. Stores Company, supra. See also Brittain v. Belk Gallant Company of Suburban Decatur, Georgia, 301 F.Supp. 478 (N.D.Ga.1969). While it is true that a different issue might be raised if the two corporate parties were legally distinct and unrelated, see Archuleta v. Duffy's, Inc., 471 F.2d 33 (10th Cir. 1973), it does not appear the corporate parties would in any way be prejudiced by the amended complaint where there was an awareness all along that charges of discrimination were outstanding and all parties knew no conciliatory agreement was at hand. See Washington v. T. G. & Y. Stores Company, supra. See also Hairston v. McLean Trucking Company, 62 F.R.D. 642 (M.D. N.C.1974).

Accordingly, this court finds it has jurisdiction over the defendant and pursuant to F.R.C.P., Rule 15(c), plaintiff's amended complaint is allowed and defendant's motion to dismiss for improper service of process is denied.

II. PLAINTIFF'S COMPLIANCE WITH ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES UNDER TITLE VII

Defendant has entered numerous objections to the maintainability of the action under Title VII, each relating to the various statutory requirements precedent to the filing of a civil complaint. These include arguments that Pittman's charge to the EEOC was not timely and that even if timely, certain claims in this civil complaint were not included in the EEOC charge and are, therefore, not maintainable here.

Attacking the timeliness of Pittman's charge filed with the EEOC, defendant asserts that the charge was filed more than 450 days after the alleged act of discrimination, obviously considering the written formal charge of January 10, 1972, as the initial charge. However, this argument ignores the fact that the EEOC was notified by letter of October 16, 1970, the very day of the alleged act of discrimination, that plaintiff felt he had suffered an act of racial discrimination. In fact, the January 10, 1972 formal charge is headed as "Case File No. TCT2-1084 AMENDED" and later refers to a "charge originally filed October 22, 1970," six days after the alleged discrimination. Apparently defendant argues this letter is ineffective to comply with Title VII because it was not sworn under oath. Suffice it to say that if the October 22 letter is, in fact, a charge which complies with the statutory language of Title VII, the 90-day limitation was met. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e).

Again, the court recognizes that the time limitations of Title VII are jurisdictional in nature and not to be circumscribed by the federal courts. Mickel v. South Carolina State Employment Service, supra; Tippett v. Liggett & Meyers Tobacco Company, supra. However, although the time limitations must be satisfied, charges timely filed with the EEOC are liberally construed in favor of the aggrieved party and "common law pleading niceties" are not required of laymen lodging their charges of discrimination. Phillips v. Columbia Gas of West Virginia, Inc., 347 F.Supp. 533 (S.D.W.Va.1972), aff'd without opinion, 474 F.2d 1342 (4th Cir. 1973). The EEOC...