Price v. Region 4 Planning, Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-1529

• Decision Date: 25 April 2019
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-1529
• Court: United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Southern District of West Virginia
• Parties: TERRI J. PRICE, Plaintiff, v. REGION 4 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL, and JOHN F. TUGGLE, Defendants.

TERRI J. PRICE, Plaintiff, v. REGION 4 PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL, and JOHN F. TUGGLE, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 2:16-cv-1529

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA AT CHARLESTON

April 25, 2019

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Pending are cross motions for summary judgment filed by the parties on May 5, 2017. Also pending is the plaintiff's Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment, filed December 5, 2018, for which plaintiff's motion to leave was not filed until January 2, 2019; and to all of which the defendants have responded, and which will be addressed in a companion order.

I. Background

The defendant, Region 4 Planning and Development Council ("Region 4"), is a quasi-governmental agency that coordinates planning and economic development for the counties of Fayette, Greenbrier, Nicholas, Pocahontas, and Webster. On December 10, 2001, defendant hired the plaintiff, Terri Price ("Price"), as Fiscal Manager at a salary of $35,000. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J., Ex. A. On July 1, 2006, Price was promoted from Fiscal Manager to Fiscal Manager/Assistant Executive Director. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J., Ex. B. At the time of her discharge on January 30, 2015, Price's salary had increased to more than $85,000. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 1. She was the second highest paid employee at Region 4. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 1.

As Fiscal Manager/Assistant Executive Director for Region 4, the plaintiff was responsible for staff leadership, personnel administration, budget preparation, collaboration with the Executive Director, establishing staff priorities and deadlines, accounts payable, regulatory compliance, knowledge of policy and procedure, administration of project-related duties and tasks, management of personnel operations, auditor collaboration, overseeing financial requirements, and leadership. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J., Ex. F. Price's deposition confirms that she administered the payroll, handled employee benefits relating to health, pension and insurance, kept financial records for the agency, and administered Region 4's budget. Defs.' Reply 3, Ex. F at 283-84.

Price claims she was subjected to sexual comments made by former Executive Director of Region 4, W.D. Smith, during her years of employment with the agency. From 2012 to 2014, Price made over 150 secret recordings of conversations that took place in her office. Those recordings reveal that on April 19, 2012, Smith notified Price of a rape that may have occurred in the office and recounted a joke he made to an individual while conversing about the topic, in which he laughingly told that person: "I thought I was the only listed sex offender." Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J., Ex 1. During a private meeting four days later on April 23, 2012, Smith told Price that he was "sitting here looking at you, pretending like you don't have any clothes on, how's that for sexual harassment?" Id. Price responded: "Oh, God." Id. Then Smith complimented Price on her "beautiful eyes." Id. She mumbled "thank you" and changed the subject. Id.

The recordings further evidence that on June 25, 2012, Smith used the phrase that individuals have a "hard on" for their home town because "their town is just as important to them, more important." Id. On June 26, 2012, during a conversation between Price, Smith, and another male employee, Smith jokingly stated: "He's [male employee] got . . . [female employee from Region 1] in a hotel right now" and that this washer "big fling before she leaves Region 1." Id. Price responded: "He's just nasty this morning," and Smith responded: "I am, I'm a dirty old man this morning, worse than normal." Id. During the same conversation, Smith told a "joke about a man's penis." Id. The three individuals, including Price, laughed at the joke. Id. Lastly, on August 1, 2013, Smith told Price that "all women are" "crazy bitches." Id. These incidents, all attributable to Smith, seem to comprise the sexual comments to which Price was subjected at Region 4.

While working for the defendant, Price never complained of Smith's conduct to the Executive Committee or any other employee at Region 4 until nearly a year after Smith was replaced when on September 8, 2014, her attorney wrote a letter to the Region 4 Chairman that set forth her grievances. See infra pp. 6, 12. Though she claims to have become increasingly concerned about being alone with Smith, she says she feared that retaliation would result from voicing a complaint. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J., Ex. 2 at 160; 154:10-11.

The plaintiff claims she began recording conversations on her computer in her office after Smith mentioned in January 2010 that he was "ready for his big raise," though she did not begin these recordings until March 2012. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J., Ex. 2. He planned to retire in three years, in 2013, and araise would serve to increase his monthly retirement payments. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J., Ex. 3 at 27-29. Price testified that she understood this as a request to "effectively 'bury' the increase in the upcoming budget rather than show it as an increase in his salary." Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 3, Ex. 2 at 33. According to the plaintiff, she refused his request because she thought it was unethical and unlawful. Id. at 34. Subsequently, Price feared losing her job and her benefits; she claimed to have been "instantly afraid" after he, according to the plaintiff, responded by stating: "Blood's thicker than water" once she denied his request. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J., Ex. D at 87:11-24. Price understood this statement to be "a threat." Id. at 88:1. Smith's longtime support for Price to succeed him indicates that her fear was unwarranted.

Prior to Smith's retirement, he had mentioned to Price that she would be a good replacement for him as Executive Director. Defendants reference an email in contending that Smith "began grooming" Price to succeed him in March 2009. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 4, Ex. J. In that email, Price stated that Smith told her she "needed [] to figure out a way [] to start traveling more to attend meetings on these projects and still be able to keep up with [her] current paper work. He [was] needing [her] to learn more about the projects for when[she] becomes Executive Director." Id. She stated: "I know he is correct, but I am just not sure how I am going to be able to do it all." Id.

However, plaintiff claims that, beginning in around March 2012, Smith "refused to allow project calls to be directed to her." Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4, Ex. 1. He apparently "refused to give his contacts Price's phone number, and continued to maintain his R[egion] 4 issued mobile phone." Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4, Ex. 3 at 79, 80-81. In light of this, the plaintiff claims Smith was "actively preventing [her] from making the transition," but that her workload also prevented her from accompanying Smith to meetings and visiting projects. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4.

Smith announced his retirement to the Executive Committee on March 20, 2013 and recommended that Price replace him. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4; Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 4. The Executive Committee approved her appointment as the new Executive Director, effective November 1, 2013. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4. Plaintiff's appointment was ratified by the Executive Committee on April 17, 2013. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 4, Ex. L, at 3. Eleven days later, on April 28, 2013, Price expressed frustrations with her new transitional position in an email to a coworker, stating:

Now that I have been appointed director, I have more of an up hill battle of trying to motivate a burnt out staff and trying to do this with a burnt out director still messing shit up his last 6 months at work. I have told him, please just go in your office and sit for 6 months and we will find him if we need him. But oh no, he insists he is working until his last day. Today alone, he cause[d] 3 major screw ups! If I could get my foot in the door someplace else I would bail on this whole director position. So not worth the headache.

Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. at Ex. M. On or just prior to June 18, 2013, Price met with Smith to discuss the proposed budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which plaintiff was to present to the Budget committee the following day. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 4; Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 5. During this conversation, the plaintiff told Smith she believed Region 4's employee handbook was "outdated" and a "huge liability" with particular respect to its overtime policy. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 5, Ex. N. The following exchange occurred as follows:

Smith: Well, it [Employee Handbook Revision] does need to be done, but let me say this. Larry Bradford went 13 years living under that risk. Tim Oxley went 5 years living under that risk. I went 21 years living under that risk.

Smith: It's just the way - it's just the way this agency has operated since its inception and never paid a penny of overtime, and never had a comp time policy, and it's improper, but it's how it has operated. It's not right, but it's worked. And it's hard to budget and -Price: Well, I think we're just going to have to do like - you know, it's like everything else, like the government, whether it's state, local, federal. You're just going to have to budget so much, and then it's like, okay, once it's done, then it's done.

Defs.' Mot. Summ. J., Ex. N at 16. Price also informed him that she included $50,000 in the budget to cover either overtime payments or hiring additional staff to avoid paying overtime. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 5. She also included a $15,000 "line-item" for "contract services" for legal counsel to update the employee handbook. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 5, Ex. D at 196.

The Budget committee approved the plaintiff's proposed budget at the meeting on June 19, 2013, and the Executive Committee approved it at an Executive Committee meeting later that evening. Defs.' Mot. Summ. J. 5. However, Price claims the meeting was "highly confrontational" towards her, in that at least one of the committee members asked her about her salary. Pl.'s Mot. Summ. J. 5. She also contends she was "accused"...