Allstate Sweeping, LLC v. City of Denver

838 F. Supp. 2d 1135, 2011 WL 6729334
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedDecember 23, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 10-CV-00290-RBJ-MJW
StatusPublished

This text of 838 F. Supp. 2d 1135 (Allstate Sweeping, LLC v. City of Denver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allstate Sweeping, LLC v. City of Denver, 838 F. Supp. 2d 1135, 2011 WL 6729334 (D. Colo. 2011).

Opinion

AMENDED ORDER ON ALL PENDING MOTIONS

R. BROOKE JACKSON, District Judge.

THIS ORDER AMENDS THE COURT’S ORDER OF DECEMBER 9, 2011 BY ADDING DISCUSSION OF THE QUALIFIED IMMUNITY DEFENSE OF DEFENDANT CALVIN BLACK

Pending before the Court are (1) defendant City’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs amended complaint [# 137]; (2) defendant Henderson’s partial motion to dismiss amended complaint [# 139]; (3) defendant’s Black’s motion for summary judg[1139]*1139ment [# 150]; (4) defendant City’s motion for summary judgment [# 151]; (5) defendant Henderson’s motion for summary judgment [# 163]; (6) defendants’ joint motion in limine [# 179]; (7)-(10) four motions by the plaintiff to supplement its prior responses to the motions to dismiss and for summary judgment [## 195, 200, 203 and 204],

Facts

The following recitation of facts is taken from plaintiffs Amended Complaint. The Court will discuss additional facts in the course of addressing the pending motions.

Allstate Sweeping, LLC (“Allstate”) is owned and operated by white females. It is engaged in the pressure washing business. Amended Complaint ¶ 4. The defendants are the City and County of Denver and four individuals who are, or at times relevant to this case were, employees of the City and County of Denver. Ruth Rodriguez, an Hispanic female, was a deputy manager of maintenance and engineering working at the Denver International Airport. She supervised defendants April Henderson, Calvin Black and Steve Draper, all of whom were African-Americans. Amended Complaint ¶ 10. Ms. Henderson was a contract manager; Mr. Black was a contract compliance technician; and Mr. Draper was a deputy manager for maintenance. Id. ¶¶ 7-9.

In 2005 Allstate submitted what became the winning low bid for a contract to provide pressure washing services at DIA. Amended Complaint ¶ 13. It initially worked under a purchase order which was replaced with a two plus year contract. It alleges that it fulfilled all requirements under the purchase order and the contract. Id. ¶¶ 16-22. However, according to the Amended Complaint, Henderson and Black mistreated Allstate by requiring that it purchase expensive equipment not contemplated in the contract; manipulating assigned tasks in a manner that caused Allstate to lose significant amounts of money; threatening Allstate’s bond which jeopardized its ability to contract in the future; preventing Allstate from contracting with United Airlines; instructing Allstate not to use its equipment for any other jobs, on or offsite; ignoring contract protocol by calling Allstate’s owners in the middle of the night to complain and intimidate them; making condescending statements about female crew members; micromanaging every detail of Allstate’s work, including instructing employees, conducting impromptu inspections, leaving employees stranded on an active runway, and demanding that Black drive Allstate’s trucks. Id. at 23

It is further alleged that Draper was aware of Henderson and Black’s mistreatment, because the three of them met regularly to discuss the Allstate contract, and Allstate sent emails and made phone calls to Draper to complain about Henderson and Black. Id. at 24. Allstate alleges that it successfully completed its duties despite Draper’s not taking action to remedy a hostile working environment created by Henderson and Black. Id. at 27, 28.

Allstate complained to the Mayor of Denver about Henderson, Black, Draper and Rodriguez. Id. at 29, 30. However, no action was taken. Id. at 31. On May 24, 2007 Allstate sent a letter to Henderson, Draper and others complaining about the alleged discrimination and harassment it was experiencing at DIA. Id. at 32. Rodriguez did not take any action to address Allstate’s complaints. Id. at 33. On May 30, 2007 Rodriguez sent Allstate a contract termination letter, copied to Draper and others, stating the contract would be terminated as of July 1, 2007 for “convenience of the City.” Id. at 34.

Allstate alleges that after its contract was terminated, defendants continued to retaliate against Allstate by falsely report[1140]*1140ing in a May 2008 email that Allstate “defaulted on contract in 07 due to lack of performance and lack of proper equipment,” which impairs Allstate’s ability to bid on contracts, potentially impairs Allstate’s bonding capacity and harms Allstate’s reputation. Id. at 35. Additional continuing retaliatory behavior includes the City’s refusal to pay Allstate’s repeated requests for payment in. 2008 and 2009. Id. at 35.

Plaintiff brings five claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983: (1) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 against the individual defendants based on racial discrimination and retaliation; (2) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 against the City and County of Denver based on racial discrimination and retaliation carried out by its employees; (3) violation of 42' U.S.C. § 2000d, Title VI, against the City based on racial discrimination by an entity receiving federal financial assistance; (4) violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by the individual defendants; and (5) violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by the City. Plaintiff seeks both declaratory and monetary relief.

I. [PLAINTIFF’S] MOTIONS TO SUPPLEMENT RESPONSES [##195, 200, 203 and 204].

Plaintiff moves to supplement its responses with recent case authority [## 195]; with the testimony of William Baca in a deposition taken by defense counsel on November 3, 2011 [# 200]; and with the testimony of James Sherman and Stephen Barela in depositions taken by defense counsel on November 3, 2011 in a case entitled Onesource Commercial Property Services, Inc. and Affordable Sweeping, Inc. v. City and County of Denver, April Henderson, Calvin Black, Ken Greene and Xavier Duran, No. 10-cv-02273 (D.Colo.).

Defendants oppose # 195 on various grounds. It is sufficient to note, as defendant argues, that plaintiffs counsel did not comply with the duty to confer set forth in D.C.COLO.LCiv.R 7.1A. Motion # 195 is denied.

Defendants oppose #200 and 203, claiming that plaintiff could have discovered the information earlier, and that supplementation is prejudicial because a ruling on defendants’ summary judgment will be delayed and the trial date (four months away) might be jeopardized. The information was developed in depositions taken by the same defendants (# 200), three of the same defendants (#203) represented by some or all of the same attorneys. Given that the motions were filed on November 18 and 20, 2011 respectively, and that defendants’ response was filed on November 29, 2011, it would not appear that the supplementation has delayed resolution of defendants’ dispositive motions. Nor will the supplementation imperil the existing trial date.

Motion 204 brings to the Court’s attention 'an order issued by Judge Babcock on November 17, 2011. In a response filed December 5, 2011, Defendant opposes this supplementation, arguing that the case is irrelevant. Whether this very recent authority is relevant is not the issue.

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Bluebook (online)
838 F. Supp. 2d 1135, 2011 WL 6729334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allstate-sweeping-llc-v-city-of-denver-cod-2011.