Smith v. St. Bernards Regional Medical Center
| Citation | 19 F.3d 1254 |
| Decision Date | 25 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1718,93-1718 |
| Parties | 64 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 478, 64 Empl. Prac. Dec. P 42,927, 28 Fed.R.Serv.3d 709 Carol D. SMITH, Appellant, v. ST. BERNARDS REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER; Fran Bower; Dianne Moss; Mary Lou Wilson; Pat Overman, Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Barry A. Bryant, Texarkana, TX, argued, for appellant.
Denzil Price Marshall, Jr., Jonesboro, AR, argued, for appellee.
Before BOWMAN, HANSEN, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.
Carol D. Smith appeals from the district court's order, dismissing without prejudice Smith's complaint of race discrimination for failure to state a claim. We affirm in part, and reverse and remand in part.
Smith, who is black, was employed as a nurse technician at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center (St. Bernards), and, on February 7, 1992, she was terminated for insubordination. Smith filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charging that she was terminated because of her color. After exhausting her administrative remedies, Smith filed this pro se complaint against St. Bernards and four former co-workers, alleging that one co-worker "was paranoid of blacks" and another co-worker by one of the co-workers. She sought only reinstatement.
The magistrate judge, to whom the case was referred by consent of the parties under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c), granted defendants' motion to dismiss and entered judgment against Smith, dismissing the action without prejudice. On appeal, Smith argues that her complaint was sufficient to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
This court reviews dismissals under Rule 12(b)(6) de novo. Ring v. First Interstate Mortgage, Inc., 984 F.2d 924, 926 (8th Cir.1993). The complaint may not be dismissed "unless it appears beyond doubt that [Smith] can prove no set of facts in support of [her] claim which would entitle [her] to relief." See Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). We also must liberally construe Smith's pro se complaint. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (per curiam).
We conclude that the claims against the individual defendants were properly dismissed because liability under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e(b)...
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