Tibbetts v. Stempel

• Decision Date: 20 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2561(CFD).,No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2683(CFD).,No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2682(CFD).,CIV.A.3:97 CV 2561(CFD).,CIV.A.3:97 CV 2682(CFD).,CIV.A.3:97 CV 2683(CFD).
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Jeffrey TIBBETTS, Plaintiff, v. William STEMPEL, et al., Defendants. Jeffrey Tibbetts, Plaintiff, v. Dorothy K. Robinson, et al., Defendants. Jeffrey Tibbetts, Plaintiff, v. Richard C. Levin, et al., Defendants.

354 F.Supp.2d 137

Jeffrey TIBBETTS, Plaintiff, v. William STEMPEL, et al., Defendants.

Jeffrey Tibbetts, Plaintiff, v. Dorothy K. Robinson, et al., Defendants.

Jeffrey Tibbetts, Plaintiff, v. Richard C. Levin, et al., Defendants.

No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2561(CFD).

No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2682(CFD).

No. CIV.A.3:97 CV 2683(CFD).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

January 20, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jeffrey P.L. Tibbetts, Arlington, VA, for Plaintiff.

William J. Doyle, Jeffrey R. Babbin, Wiggin & Dana, New Haven, CT, for Defendants.

RULING ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

DRONEY, District Judge.

I. Introduction

In these three cases, which were consolidated for pre-trial and discovery purposes, Jeffrey Tibbetts ("Tibbetts"), who is now proceeding pro se, brings a total of thirty-one counts against the defendants, which include Yale University, the Yale Corporation and various officials and employees of Yale University.¹ The defendants' two motions for summary judgment are addressed in this opinion.² In their first motion, the defendants argue that twenty-seven of Tibbetts' claims in these cases are precluded by the judgment entered in Tibbetts v. Dittes, 3:95CV995(AVC), appeal dismissed, 01-7377 (2d Cir.2003), which was tried before then-Chief Judge Alfred V. Covello in the District of Connecticut. The motion also argues that there is no genuine issue of material fact in regard to the remaining four claims, and thus the defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law as to them as well.

On August 30, 2004, the defendants filed a supplemental motion for summary judgment, arguing that the four claims that were not precluded by the judgment in Dittes now are precluded by the judgment entered in Tibbetts v. Yale Corp., No. C/A-00-2004-A (E.D.Va.2004), aff'd 47 Fed.Appx. 648, 2002 WL 31123873 (4th Cir.2002).

For the following reasons, the defendants' motions for summary judgment are GRANTED as to all counts in the three consolidated actions.

II. Background³

In 1985, Tibbetts enrolled at the Yale Divinity School ("YDS") in New Haven to pursue a master of divinity degree. Upon graduation, he planned to be ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church and to serve as a military chaplain in the U.S. Navy. In 1986, Tibbetts participated in a sermon delivery workshop during which students were required to deliver four sermons that were videotaped and then graded. Two of Tibbetts' fellow students suspected that he had plagiarized one of the sermons that he had delivered, and they informed YDS officials of their suspicions. Tibbetts eventually was called before the YDS Professional Studies Committee ("PSC"), a group charged with determining whether academic infractions have been committed. The PSC recommended that Tibbetts be expelled, yet be permitted to re-apply for admission to YDS if he satisfied certain specified conditions, which included informing the Presbyterian Church of the situation. He satisfied those conditions and returned to YDS in January 1989, planning to graduate in December of that year.

The second incident occurred in the summer of 1989, when Tibbetts was a student in a class taught by YDS Professor James Dittes. Tibbetts claims that because he received a short overseas assignment from the U.S. Navy, he would not have been present on campus to turn in his final two papers for the course taught by Dittes. Tibbetts maintains that he and Dittes agreed that Tibbetts would mail the two papers to Dittes on August 11, 1989, the day he was scheduled to depart from Wilmington, Delaware, for his overseas assignment. Because Dittes claimed that he did not receive the papers, Tibbetts received a failing grade.⁴ According to Tibbetts, Dittes then accused him of various types of forgery and fraud, and informed the Presbyterian Church of the incident. Tibbetts also claimed that Dittes accused him of lying and suffering from various psychological disorders, and that Tibbetts had been discharged from the American Baptist Church for acts of "moral turpitude" and "sexual promiscuity." Over the next three years, Yale officials pursued the forgery and fraud charges against Tibbetts before the PSC.⁵ During that time, the Presbyterian Church dismissed Tibbetts as a ordination candidate. Tibbetts claims that these events forced him to give up a two-year position as an adjunct professor at the Beijing Foreign Affairs College. In 1992, after a hearing before the PSC, the charges were dropped and Tibbetts was allowed to graduate from YDS.

Tibbetts claims that the disciplinary proceedings had far-reaching consequences. In 1994 he was nominated as Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant to the President on the White House Domestic Policy Council, and was later appointed to the position. Tibbetts claims, however, that he was forced to resign because Yale officials had informed the White House of their past disputes with Tibbetts. In addition, Tibbetts had attempted re-apply for ordination in the Presbyterian Church and in doing so, tried to obtain his student records from Yale under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. He claims that the defendants refused to provide him with access to the documents, and that this barred him from readmission as an ordination candidate. Tibbetts also claims that the defendants accused him of using his White House position to influence his application for his student records, and that they refused to retract the allegations made to the Presbyterian Church.

III. Procedural History

The first action arising out of the events recited above was Tibbetts v. Dittes et al., 3:95CV00995(AVC), which was filed in the District of Connecticut on May 30, 1995, and assigned to Judge Covello.⁶ The amended complaint in Dittes, dated January 23, 1996, contained four counts: (1) intentional infliction of emotional distress; (2) defamation; (3) breach of contract; and (4) intentional interference with prospective business advantage. On May 17, 1996, Judge Covello ruled that named defendants Adams and Huebner had not properly been served, and, therefore, they were dismissed as defendants. Tibbetts requested leave to file a memorandum that he claimed would show that those defendants were properly served. Despite having had his initial request to file the memorandum granted, as well as four applications for extensions of time, Tibbetts' failed to file his memorandum. On April 11, 1997, Judge Covello denied Tibbets' fifth motion for an extension of time.

On June 2, 1997, Judge Covello granted Tibbetts' request for an extension of time until June 27, 1997, to further amend his complaint. Tibbetts did not file an amended complaint within this time period. On August 26, 1997, however, Tibbetts requested leave to file two amended complaints, which sought to add counts related to: (1) his suspension from YDS for plagiarism; (2) the academic misconduct charges brought against him in 1990 and the subsequent investigation; (3) his dispute with Yale over disciplinary records arising from the plagiarism and academic misconduct charges; (4) his 1994 resignation from his White House position; and (5) Yale's response to the Dittes lawsuit. On December 4, 1997, Judge Covello denied Tibbetts' request to amend on the grounds that it was untimely and that it would prejudice the defendants.⁷ On December 8, 1997, as a result of his failure to successfully amend his complaint in Dittes, Tibbetts filed a new action, Tibbetts v. Stempel et al., 3:97CV2561(CFD).⁸ A few weeks later, on December 23, 1997, Tibbetts filed two more actions: Tibbetts v. Robinson et al., 97CV2682(CFD)⁹ and Tibbetts v. Levin et al., 97CV2683(CFD).¹⁰ All of these new cases were assigned to this Court.

On April 28, 1998, Judge Covello stayed his case pending the resolution of Tibbetts' bankruptcy proceeding in the Eastern District of Virginia, and gave Tibbetts thirty days from the date of that resolution to file an amended complaint in Dittes. The bankruptcy proceeding was concluded on December 4, 1998. Therefore, Tibbetts had until January 4, 1999, to file an amended complaint. Tibbetts failed to comply with this deadline. On December 29, 1999, however, Tibbetts filed another motion to amend his complaint. Judge Covello denied this motion as untimely, noting that "allowing the plaintiff to amend his complaint, adding four new causes of action, only 5 days before trial, and over two years since the close of discovery, would be prejudicial to the defendants." (See 3:97CV2561 Doc. # 52: Ex. V). The case then proceeded to trial. At the close of the evidence, Judge Covello granted the defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with respect to the counts of breach of contract and interference with prospective advantage. The remaining two counts, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, were submitted to the jury, which returned a defendants' verdict on both counts. On March 29, 2000, Judge Covello rendered judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict. Subsequently, Tibbetts filed a motion for a new trial, a motion to vacate the judgment, a motion for sanctions, and a motion to disqualify the presiding judge. Those motions were denied. On March 30, 2001, Tibbetts filed a notice of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which indicated that he was appealing several issues, including "the issue of amending a party's pleadings."

Due to the notice of appeal filed in Dittes, this Court denied the defendants' motions for summary judgment in the instant three actions without prejudice. More specifically, this Court concluded that, given the defendants' reliance on the doctrine of res judicata and Tibbetts' status as a pro se litigant, it would be inappropriate to evaluate the Dittes judgment for preclusive effect prior to the Second Circuit's review of that judgment.¹¹ In so ruling,...