Sharafeldin v. Maryland, Dept. of Public Safety
| Citation | 131 F.Supp.2d 730 |
| Decision Date | 13 February 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV H-99-2940.,CIV H-99-2940. |
| Parties | Ibnomer M. SHARAFELDIN Plaintiff v. State of MARYLAND, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Fatai A. Suleman, Amorow & Kum, PA, Hyattsville, MD, for plaintiff.
Scott S. Oakley, Assist. Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, for defendant.
Plaintiff Ibnomer M. Sharafeldin ("Sharafeldin") was formerly employed as a prison chaplain by the State of Maryland, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (the "Department"). In this civil action, Sharafeldin has sued the Department under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII"). Claims of hostile work environment and constructive discharge have been asserted.
Pursuant to Scheduling Orders entered by the Court, the parties have engaged in extensive discovery.1 Presently pending before the Court is defendant's motion for summary judgment. The parties have submitted lengthy memoranda and numerous exhibits in support of and in opposition to the pending motion, including affidavits and excerpts from various depositions taken during discovery. A hearing has been held in open court. For the reasons stated herein, defendant's motion for summary judgment will be granted.
Sharafeldin is a black male of Sudanese origin and is a practicing Muslim. From August 11, 1989 until July 30, 1991, he was a "contractual employee" of the Department. From July 31, 1991 until June 8, 1999,2 Sharafeldin was employed by the Department on a full-time basis as an Islamic Chaplain at the Maryland Correctional Training Center (the "MCTC") in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Plaintiff has a long history of filing charges of discrimination against the Department. Indeed, he was hired on a full-time basis in 1991 only after he had filed a charge of discrimination with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations (the "MCHR") and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the "EEOC"). Since 1991, Sharafeldin has filed charges of discrimination against the Department on some seven occasions.3 His most recent charge and the basis for this suit was filed with the MCHR on December 4, 1998.4 On July 9, 1999, the EEOC issued to Sharafeldin a "Right to Sue" letter.
Proceeding pro se, Sharafeldin filed in this Court on September 27, 1999 a "Complaint for Employment Discrimination" (the "Pro Se Complaint"). Sharafeldin's Pro Se Complaint alleged in general terms employment discrimination by the Department and various Department officials on the basis of his race, color, religion and national origin. Thirty-five exhibits, totaling almost 300 pages were attached to the Pro Se Complaint.
In January of 2000, Sharafeldin obtained private counsel, and on February 18, 2000, counsel filed an amended complaint containing three counts. Count I alleges hostile work environment harassment on the basis of Sharafeldin's race, color, religion and national origin. Count II asserts a claim of constructive discharge based on the alleged hostile work environment harassment encountered by plaintiff. Count III alleged a claim of breach by the defendant of a settlement agreement between the parties dated February 24, 1995, whereby Sharafeldin had consented to withdraw all previously filed charges of discrimination which had been brought against the Department and which were pending at that time. In each Count of his amended complaint, Sharafeldin seeks $5,000,000 as compensatory damages, $5,000,000 as punitive damages and attorneys' fees and costs.
Responding to the amended complaint, the Attorney General of Maryland, appearing on behalf of the Department, filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint. In its Memorandum and Order of April 11, 2000, this Court denied defendant's motion to dismiss Counts I and II of the amended complaint, but granted defendant's motion to dismiss Count III. Count III of the amended complaint was dismissed on the ground that it was barred by the State of Maryland's sovereign immunity. As to Counts I and II, the Court concluded that there were material jurisdictional facts in dispute making dismissal of plaintiff's claims as a matter of law inappropriate at that early stage of the case. (Slip op. at 11). The parties were directed to develop the facts by way of discovery. Id. The Court noted that defendant, after discovery had been completed, would be entitled to later challenge Counts I and II by way of a motion for summary judgment. Id. at 12.
Thereafter, plaintiff filed a motion for leave to file a second amended complaint which sought to add a new Count III asserting a claim that the Department had unlawfully failed to transfer Sharafeldin to another correctional facility. On June 12, 2000, the Court entered an Order denying plaintiff's motion to amend on the ground that the new count was insufficient on its face because the Department's challenged conduct did not constitute an adverse employment action under Title VII.
Beginning in 1992, Sharafeldin began to memorialize employment incidents which he believed were based on defendant's discriminatory treatment and to submit incident reports to the Department. In his answers to defendant's interrogatories, Sharafeldin has described thirty-eight separate "acts" of alleged discrimination which occurred between December 1, 1992 and August 21, 1998. Included are claims that he was assaulted, that he was the subject of hate mail, that he was harassed in connection with the performance of his duties as administrative chaplain and that he was subjected to disparate treatment.
The primary focus of plaintiff's suit is based on an alleged assault which occurred on August 21, 1998. At approximately 9:00 p.m. on that date, an inmate informed Sharafeldin that Officer Smith, a correctional officer, was spying on the inmate as he was typing a letter for Sharafeldin. Prison policy did not permit an inmate to perform personal services for a chaplain or other employee of the Department. Believing that the inmate was performing personal services for Sharafeldin, Officer Smith reported the problem to Captain Troupe ("Troupe"). Troupe in turn contacted Major McCauley ("McCauley"),5 and both Troupe and McCauley immediately went to see Sharafeldin at his office.
Troupe and McCauley then questioned Sharafeldin about the letter. The document in question was a report about an investment scam in which Sharafeldin had become a victim. According to Sharafeldin, he had decided that, as a correctional employee and a citizen, he had a civic duty to report the scam to state and federal authorities.6 A dispute then arose as to whether Sharafeldin could take the two-page letter and make copies of the pages which Troupe and McCauley were holding. When plaintiff attempted to leave with copies of the document, both Troupe and McCauley blocked his path. According to Sharafeldin, McCauley shook his fist, made threatening remarks and pushed Sharafeldin against a desk causing him to bruise his hand and shin. Sharafeldin then left the MCTC and went to the emergency room of the Washington County Hospital where he was treated for mild contusions on his right hand and his right shin.7 The next day, Sharafeldin filed criminal assault charges against McCauley in the District Court for Washington County. Those charges were later nol prossed.
According to the incident report filed by plaintiff, "both Mr. McCouley [sic] and Mr. Troupe were motivated against me by race and religion and ethnic origin." Although many other incidents are relied upon here by Sharafeldin in support of his claims, the alleged assault of August 21, 1998 was the basis for the administrative charge of discrimination which he filed with the MCHR and which later led to the filing of this suit.8
According to Sharafeldin, as a result of the assault on August 21, 1998, he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"). He was treated by a psychiatrist for this condition and did not return to work after August 21, 1998, claiming that his PTSD made it impossible for him to resume his work at the prison. Later, in June of 1999, he was removed from the Department's payroll. In Count II of the amended complaint, he has alleged that he was constructively discharged by the Department, and he seeks in that Count a recovery under Title VII for this discharge.
It is well established that a defendant moving for summary judgment bears the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Barwick v. Celotex Corp., 736 F.2d 946, 958 (4th Cir.1984). Where, as here, the nonmoving party will bear the ultimate burden of persuasion at trial, "the burden on the moving party [at the summary judgment stage] may be discharged by `showing' — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
One of the purposes of Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is to require a plaintiff, in advance of trial and after a motion for summary judgment has been filed and properly supported, to come forward with some minimal facts to show that the defendant may be liable under the claims alleged. See F.R.Civ.P. 56(e). If the nonmoving party "fail[s] to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of his case with respect to which he has the burden of proof," then "the plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment." Catrett, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548.
While the facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, Ross v....
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