Prewett v. State of Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, 2:00-CV-1674-F.
| Court | United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. Middle District of Alabama |
| Citation | 419 F.Supp.2d 1338 |
| Docket Number | No. 2:00-CV-1674-F.,2:00-CV-1674-F. |
| Parties | Vickie K. PREWETT, et al., Plaintiffs, v. STATE OF ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, et al., Defendants. |
| Decision Date | 03 March 2006 |
Gregory Brent Stein, Stein Brewster & Pilcher, Mobile, AL, Henry Harris Caddell, Thiry & Caddell, Mobile, AL, Rhonda C. Brownstein, Montgomery, AL, Richard Lawrence Thiry, Thiry & Caddell, Mobile, AL, for Vickie K. Prewett, Christine Hale, Deborah Coker, Vicky Brown, Lisa Jackson, Teresa Thomason, Susan W. Collier, Valerie Porter Williams, Betty Dubose, Sandra M. Brown, Deborah G. Murphree, Cecelia J. Talley, Jan Robbins, Sue Judkins, Shirl J. Brogdon.
Margaret L. Fleming, Office of the Atty. Gen., Montgomery, AL, Sandra Ingram
Speakman, State Personnel Dept., Legal Div., Montgomery, AL, Scott Lee Rouse, Office of the Atty. Gen., Montgomery, AL, for State of Alabama Dept. of Veterans Affairs.
Alice Ann Byrne, State Personnel Dept., Montgomery, AL, for Alabama State Personnel Dept.
In this action, Plaintiffs, who are current and former employees of the State of Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, claim entitlement to a variety of remedies for alleged violations of the Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)(1) (hereinafter "EPA") and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (hereinafter "Title VII"). This cause is presently before the Court on Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 72) filed on November 1, 2001. The Court has carefully considered the arguments in support of and in opposition to the motion and finds that the motion is due to be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.
The Court exercises subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question) and 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (civil rights). The parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or venue, and the Court finds adequate allegations supporting both.
Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The party asking for summary judgment "always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,' which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The movant can meet this burden by presenting evidence showing there is no dispute of material fact, or by showing the non-moving party has failed to present evidence in support of some element of its case on which it bears the ultimate burden of proof. Id. at 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548.
Once the moving party has met its burden, Rule 56(e) "requires the nonmoving party to go beyond the pleadings and by [his] own affidavits, or by the `depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,' designate `specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'" Id. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. To avoid summary judgment, the nonmoving party "must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). On the other hand, a court ruling on a motion for summary judgment must believe the evidence of the non-movant and must draw all justifiable inferences from the evidence in the non-moving party's favor. See, e.g., Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); McCormick v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 333 F.3d 1234, 1243 (11th Cir.2003) (). After the nonmoving party has responded to the motion for summary judgment, the court must grant summary judgment if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).
The mere existence of some factual dispute will not defeat summary judgment unless that factual dispute is material to an issue affecting the outcome of the case. The relevant rules of substantive law dictate the materiality of a disputed fact. A genuine issue of material fact does not exist unless there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for a reasonable jury to return a verdict in its favor.
Chapman v. AI Transp., 229 F.3d 1012, 1023 (11th Cir.2000) (en banc) (quoting Haves v. City of Miami, 52 F.3d 918, 921 (11th Cir.1995) (internal marks and citations omitted)).
On December 7, 2000, Vickie K. Prewett, Christine Hale, Deborah Coker, Vicky Brown, Lisa Jackson, Teresa Thomason, Susan W. Collier, Valerie Porter Williams, and Betty Dubose (hereinafter collectively "Plaintiffs") filed a Complaint against the State of Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (hereinafter "the Alabama VA") and the Alabama State Personnel Department (hereinafter "SPD") (referred to collectively hereinafter as "Defendants"). As current and former employees of the Alabama VA, these women sought declaratory and injunctive relief, back pay, prejudgment interest, front pay, liquidated damages, compensatory damages, expenses and attorney fees from Defendants for alleged violations of rights guaranteed under the EPA, the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution1, and Title VII. Plaintiffs have all worked at some time as County Veterans Affairs Assistants. Plaintiffs allege that male employees employed in the position of Veteran Service Officers were paid substantially more than Plaintiffs even though they performed essentially the same duties as Plaintiffs, which duties required equal skill, effort and responsibility as those performed by Plaintiffs, and they performed those duties under similar working conditions as Plaintiffs' working conditions.
On February 12, 2001, Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint (Doc. # 25). The Amended Complaint added several state officials as defendants. Then Governor Don Siegelman was named individually and as Governor of Alabama. Frank D. Wilkes was named individually and as Director of the Alabama VA. Thomas G. Flowers was named individually and as Director of SPD. However, on March 7, 2001, Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Dismissal by which they dismissed several of the claims and Defendants to the action. (Doc. # 39). Specifically, Plaintiffs dismissed all of their claims under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and all of their claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs also dismissed all of their claims against Frank D. Wilkes, Thomas G. Flowers, and Don Siegelman in their individual and official capacities. On March 26, 2001, the Court entered an Order (Doc. # 47) dismissing all claims brought under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and all claims against Frank D. Wilkes, Thomas G. Flowers, and Don Siegelman in their individual and official capacities. Thus, as of the end of March of 2001, the sole Defendants in this case were the Alabama VA and SPD and the sole claims in the case were brought pursuant to the EPA and Title VII.
On October 18, 2001, Plaintiffs sought leave of court to add new plaintiffs to the action. Specifically, Plaintiffs sought to file a Second Amended Complaint which added claims against Defendants on behalf of Sandra Brown, Deborah Murphree, Cecelia Talley, Jan Robbins, Sue Judkins, and Shirl Brogdon. (Doc. # 66). On November 7, 2001, the Court granted Plaintiffs leave to add these additional plaintiffs. (Doc. # 77). Consequently, the Second Amended Complaint was filed on November 7, 2001. (Doc. # 78). Strangely enough, the Second Amended Complaint reasserted claims arising under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 even though Plaintiffs had dismissed such claims from the First Amended Complaint approximately six months before seeking leave to file the Second Amended Complaint.
Early in the case, SPD and the Alabama VA filed motions to dismiss (Does. # 12, 14, & 34). On November 7, 2001, the Court denied these motions. (Doc. # 76). On November 1, 2001, SPD and the Alabama VA jointly filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 72). This is the motion currently before this Court. Plaintiffs opposed the Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. # 94). On January 14, 2002, Defendants filed supplemental submissions in support of their Motion for Summary Judgment and addressed the claims and parties added by the Second Amended Complaint. (Doc. # 95). On January 28, 2002, Plaintiffs submitted a reply to the Defendants' supplemental submissions. (Doc. # 96). Plaintiffs supplemented their submissions again in April of 2002 (Doc. # 103) and in July of 2003 (Doc. # 108).
Although the original Complaint in this case contained a jury demand, the amendments to the Complaint did not. The parties eventually agreed that this case should be tried without a jury. The Court ordered that the case would proceed as a non-jury case on February 25, 2002. (Doc. # 102). This case was assigned to the undersigned on February 19, 2003.
On December 15, 2004, the parties filed a Joint Motion to Dismiss Remaining Claims brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Equal Protection Clause (Doc. # 114), stipulating to the dismissal, with...
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Prewett v. Alabama Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 2:00-CV-1674-RDP-SRW.
...# 146, 153, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173). 3. The opinion can also be found at Prewett v. State of Alabama Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 419 F.Supp.2d 1338, 1343-49 (M.D.Ala. March 3, 2006). For the sake of convenience, the court will cite herein to the published 4. Judge Fuller granted summar......