Thomas v. St. Luke's Health Systems, Inc.
| Citation | 869 F. Supp. 1413 |
| Decision Date | 21 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. C 93-4051.,C 93-4051. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of West Virginia |
| Parties | Frederick THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. ST. LUKE'S HEALTH SYSTEMS, INC., St. Luke's Gordon Recovery Center a/k/a The Gordon Center Ann Jons, Craig Mansfield, and Steve Middleton, Defendants. |
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Jeffrey A. Neary of O'Brien, Galvin, Moeller & Neary, Sioux City, IA, for plaintiff.
Maurice B. Nieland and Michael W. Ellwanger of Rawlings, Nieland, Probasco, Killinger, Ellwanger, Jacobs & Mohrhauser, Sioux City, IA, for defendants.
Defendants, a substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation center and some of its managerial personnel and the center's corporate parent, have moved for summary judgment on a former employee's claims of constructive discharge and disparate treatment race discrimination and pendant state law claims of race discrimination, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation. The former employee's claims arise out of the defendants' alleged responses to accusations by patients that the former employee had been under the influence of cocaine while on the job. Those responses included initial demands that the former employee submit to a urinalysis, which were later withdrawn, and allegedly pressuring the former employee to take a different job with the rehabilitation center. The corporate parent of the rehabilitation center has moved for summary judgment on the ground that it was not an employer of the plaintiff. The other defendants have moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the employee cannot make any showing of race discrimination, that Iowa has never recognized a covenant of good faith and fair dealing in employment situations, that the employee has not alleged any conduct on the part of defendants that is sufficiently outrageous to support a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, and that defendants have good defenses of truth and qualified privilege to the employee's defamation claim on which there is no genuine issue of material fact.
Plaintiff Frederick Thomas, who is Afro-American, filed his complaint in this matter on May 20, 1993, alleging constructive discharge and disparate treatment race discrimination and various state-law statutory and tort claims. Defendants are St. Luke's Health Systems, Inc., St. Luke's Gordon Recovery Center a/k/a The Gordon Center (the Gordon Center or the Center), which is a substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation center, Ann Jons, the former manager of adult in-patient programs at the Center, Craig Mansfield, a therapist at the Center, and Steve Middleton, the director of adult services at the Center. Thomas's allegations, which are discussed in more detail below, included constructive discharge and disparate treatment race discrimination, race discrimination in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act, Iowa Code Ch. 601A (now Iowa Code Ch. 216), breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation. Thomas asserts that the actions of the defendants resulted in his constructive discharge from his employment as a rehabilitation technician with the Center on July 2, 1992. On February 4, 1992, Thomas filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission alleging unlawful employment discrimination against the defendants. Thomas's charge was referred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, although nowhere in the record is it clear what, if any, action the EEOC took on the complaint. Thomas sought and received a "right to sue" letter from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. This lawsuit followed.
Defendants answered Thomas's complaint on June 10, 1993, asserting denials of factual allegations, but no affirmative defenses. In the parties' scheduling report of August 26, 1993, the parties anticipated filing amendments and adding parties, and the scheduling order established a deadline of January 1, 1994, for those pleadings. That deadline was later extended to February 1, 1994, but no amendments or motions to amend have ever been filed by either party. However, the original deadline of April 1, 1994, for the filing of dispositive motions was twice extended, first to June 1, 1994, then to accommodate defendants' present motion for summary judgment filed on October 21, 1994. Trial has been set in this matter for December 5, 1994, since entry of a scheduling order on July 14, 1994. However, in their eleventh hour motion for summary judgment, defendants have moved for judgment in their favor on all of Thomas's claims. Unfortunately, there is precious little time to resolve the important issues raised by the summary judgment motion in the very short period of time between the filing of the motion for summary judgment and trial. This is an excellent example of the conundrum created by allowing parties to move for summary judgment well past the initial deadline for doing so and on the eve of trial. Counsel for both parties have invested some effort in advancing and resisting summary judgment. This has necessarily consumed considerable time, effort, energy, and attorney fees. In similar circumstances, this court recently remarked:
In one sense, it would be unfair to the parties not to rule on the motion or to artfully dodge it because of the time crunch. Additionally, meritorious summary judgment motions advance important judicial resource concerns by eliminating trials when they are unnecessary. On the other hand, hurriedly addressing last minute summary judgment motions rob the court of the time necessary to carefully evaluate, analyze and cogitate ÔÇö sometimes necessary even when difficult issues are ... presented.
Holmes v. Marriott Corp., 831 F.Supp. 691, 696 (S.D.Iowa 1993). Neither party has requested a hearing, and in view of the imminent trial date, the court finds that the matter is fully submitted and is prepared to enter its disposition of the motion. The court has done the best it could to resolve the issues raised in defendants' motion for summary judgment given the crushing time constraints.
The complaint in this matter is not a model of artful pleading. The only numbered counts state causes of action under Iowa statutory or common law, but no federal cause of action upon which to base federal jurisdiction. The complaint begins with identification of the parties, a jurisdictional statement, and "substantive allegations," found in paragraphs 9 through 17, with a jury demand in paragraph 18, and a prayer for relief including injunctions, payment of medical bills, emotional damages, attorney fees, punitive damages, liquidated damages, front and back pay, and such other relief as the court deems appropriate. The "substantive allegations" suggest claims of constructive discharge and disparate treatment on the basis of race.
In the numbered counts of the complaint, Thomas asserts four causes of action under state law. First, Count I alleges discrimination, apparently on the basis of race, in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act, Iowa Code Ch. 601A (1991) (now Iowa Code Ch. 216 (1993)), based on the general allegations with which Thomas's complaint begins. Count II alleges breach of covenant of good faith, again based on the general allegations with which the complaint begins. Count III alleges...
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