Le v. City of Wilmington

• Decision Date: 07 September 2010
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 08-615-LPS
• Citation: 736 F.Supp.2d 842
• Parties: Le T. LE, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF WILMINGTON, Joseph F. Capodanno, Jr., and James J. O'Donnell, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

736 F.Supp.2d 842

Le T. LE, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF WILMINGTON, Joseph F. Capodanno, Jr., and James J. O'Donnell, Defendants.

Civ. No. 08-615-LPS.

United States District Court,

D. Delaware.

Sept. 7, 2010.

Victor F. Battaglia, Sr., Biggs & Battaglia, Wilmington, DE, for Plaintiff.

Gary William Lipkin, City of Wilmington Law Department, James H. McMackin, III, Mary Matterer, Richard K. Herrmann, Morris James LLP, Wilmington, DE, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

LEONARD P. STARK, District Judge.

On September 24, 2008, Le T. Le ("Le" or "Plaintiff") filed the present lawsuit (Docket Item ("D.I.") 1) against the City of Wilmington ("City"), the City's Manager of Integrated Technologies, Joseph F. Capodanno, Jr. ("Capodanno"), and the City's Director of Integrated Technologies, James J. O'Donnell ("O'Donnell") (collectively, "Defendants"). Le alleges: (i) copyright infringement in violation of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 101, et. seq. ; (ii) discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et. seq. ("Title VII"), as well as 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983; (iii) conspiracy to interfere with civil rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985; and (iv) neglect or refusal to prevent conspiracy in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1986. (D.I. 17) In his Amended Complaint (the "Amended Complaint"), Le also raises state law discrimination claims, pursuant to 19 Del. C. § 710, et. seq. , and a claim for prima facie tort under Delaware state law. ( Id.) ¹

On October 1, 2008, this case was assigned to the Honorable Legrome D. Davis of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting as a Visiting Judge in the District of Delaware. On July 27, 2009, Judge Davis approved the parties' joint stipulation consenting to the exercise of jurisdiction by a magistrate judge and referred the case to the undersigned. (D.I. 25) ²

Pending before the Court are two defense motions for summary judgment: (i) Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment with respect to Counts III-VIII of Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (the "Discrimination Motion") (D.I. 138), and (ii) the City's Motion for Summary Judgment with respect to Counts I-II of Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (the "Copyright Motion") (D.I. 140). The Court heard oral argument on both motions on August 3, 2010. ( See Transcript of August 3, 2010 hearing (D.I. 158) (hereinafter "Tr.").)

For the reasons set forth below, the Court will grant both motions.³

BACKGROUND ⁴

Plaintiff Le T. Le was hired by the Defendant City of Wilmington as an Information Analyst II on November 3, 2003. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 4) He worked as part of the Network Division. ( Id. at 121; D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 5-6) Plaintiff's duties involved support and technical assistance to users of the City's computer network. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 145) In 2003, Plaintiff decided to attempt to develop an "Instant Ticketing" software program for use by the City's Department of Licenses and Inspections ("L & I"). (D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 257) Jeffrey Starkey, the City's Commissioner of L & I, first described the problem to him. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 262; D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 260-61) The program was intended to allow the L & I to keep track of citations by computer software rather than paper tickets. (D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 263-64) Plaintiff believed that if the program was successful he would be able to provide it to the City and market it to other municipalities.

Plaintiff claimed that his immediate supervisor, Terry Jones, expressly forbade Plaintiff from working on the Instant Ticketing program while at work. ⁵ Plaintiff asserts that he then began working on the program exclusively on his own time in his own home. In 2004, Plaintiff completed a prototype of the program and was authorized by Jeffery Starkey, the City's Commissioner of L & I, to install the software on the City's computer network for testing and comment by L & I personnel. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 378; D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 286-87)

The Network Division consisted of Plaintiff, who is of Vietnamese descent, and two other individuals, who were both African American. (D.I. 155 Ex. D at CITY001032) According to Plaintiff, Capodanno and O'Donnell's campaign to eliminate the Network Division was racially motivated. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 102) Plaintiff claimed that Capodanno and O'Donnell had been overheard by City employees making derogatory remarks about minorities and making remarks about not being able to understand Plaintiff when he spoke. ( Id. at 36, 84) Plaintiff himself did not hear Capodanno or O'Donnell make any racially insensitive comments. ( Id. at 87, 99)

Plaintiff testified that as part of Capodanno and O'Donnell's campaign to eliminate the Network Division, they decided to blame a series of ongoing computer problems on the Network Division. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 43-45, 48) In Plaintiff's view, all of those problems were caused by a new computer application called "MUNIS" that had been recommended by Capodanno and O'Donnell. ( Id. at 33-34)

The City contends that for the 2008 Fiscal Year ("FY '08") Budget, the City determined that it would be more economical and efficient in terms of cutting edge technology to outsource the functions of its Network Division. (D.I. 155 Ex. D at CITY001032) ⁶ This major decision to outsource a City Division required the approval of Wilmington City Council. Although the City Budget would not come up for a vote by City Council until May 2007, out of consideration of the impact of the outsourcing of the Division on the affected employees, if approved by City Council, the City decided to inform the staff of its intention to outsource the Division. Therefore, on January 8, 2007, IT and staff from the City Personnel Department met informally with the Division staff to explain the City's intention to outsource the functions of the Division and to briefly inform them of some of their options, including placement in vacant City positions, for which they were qualified; bumpinginto positions in their respective pay plans that were equal to or lower than their current position and for which they could qualify to perform within twenty (20) working days; seeking employment with other entities; and lay-offs, should City Council approve the Budget with the outsourcing of the functions of the Network Division. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 51, 56-57, 76, 188) On May 18, 2007, Wilmington City Council passed the FY '08 Budget, which included the elimination of the Network Division.

The City replaced the Network Division with an outside contractor, Diamond Technologies. All of the Diamond employees who undertook the responsibilities formerly carried out by the Network Division were white.

Three days after the City Council vote, on May 21, 2007, Plaintiff filed a Certificate of Registration with the United States Copyright Office seeking federal copyright protection for his Instant Ticketing software. (D.I. 144 Ex. 1, Le Dep. at 329) On May 24, 2007, Plaintiff and the other members of the Network Division were officially informed that their positions would be eliminated. (D.I. 142 Ex. H at 1636) On June 5, 2007, Plaintiff removed his Instant Ticketing software from the City's computer network server. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 64) ⁷ Before he removed the software, Le did not inform his supervisor, Jones, that he intended to do so, and Jones did not give Le permission to remove the software before he did so. (D.I. 142 Ex. B at 67, 75) Without the source code Le removed, what the City had left was useless, and the City could not issue instant tickets. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 73, 75-76) On these points, Le testified:

I told Jeff Starkey, the commissioner of L & I, a couple of months before that when I leave the City I was going to take my-whatever belonged to me with me, and I also told Terry [Jones] that when I leave the City, I'm going to take whatever belongs to me with me.... I didn't specifically say it was instant ticket because there were other things that I brought in to work that I would take home with me .... I don't need the permission to take it off because, as I said earlier, I was taking it off and on at will, even prior to Jim [O'Donnell] and Joe [Capodanno] came into IT. So I didn't need the permission to take it off or put it on.

( Id. at 69-70; see also id. at 81) Defendants did not feel the same way: later on June 5, 2007, the day Le removed the software from the City's server, Le was suspended, directed to reinstall the Instant Ticketing application, and threatened with prosecution if he did not do so. (D.I. 142 Ex. A at 75-76) After Plaintiff complied, he was terminated. ( Id. at 83, 251) ⁸

LEGAL STANDARDS

A grant of summary judgment is appropriate only where "the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 n. 10, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). If the moving party has carried its burden, the nonmovant must then "come forward with 'specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.' " Id. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e) (emphasis in original)). The Court will "draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, and it may not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence." Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

To defeat a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must "do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348; see also Podobnik v. U.S. Postal Service, 409 F.3d 584, 594 (3d Cir.2005) (party opposing summary judgment "must present more than just bare assertions,...