APPLEGATE v. ST. VINCENT HEALTH, INC.

District Court, S.D. Indiana·Decided May 23, 2023·No. 1:22-cv-01097·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION KAYLYN APPLEGATE, et al., on behalf of ) themselves and those similarly situated, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) vs. ) 1:22-cv-01097-JPH-MG ) ST. VINCENT HEALTH, INC., et al., ) ) Defendants. ) ORDER Plaintiffs in this putative class action are current or former employees of healthcare facilities operated by Defendants. They allege that Defendants violated their rights under Title VII by denying their requests for a religious exemption to a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Plaintiffs have previously amended their putative class action complaint several times, adding individual plaintiffs and defendants as notice of right-to-sue letters continue to trickle in from the EEOC. [See Filing No. 28; Filing No. 54.] Now pending before the Court and ripe for a decision is Plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to File Fifth Amended Class Action Complaint (the "Motion"). [Filing No. 82.] Defendants oppose the Motion, [Filing No. 82], and Plaintiffs have replied to those arguments, [Filing No. 99]. I. LEGAL STANDARD Courts should "freely give leave [to amend] when justice so requires," Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2),1 but leave to amend is not granted automatically. Airborne Beepers & Video, Inc. v. 1 Plaintiffs moved to amend prior to the deadline for doing so set by the Court in the operative Case Management Plan. [Filing No. 43.] AT&T Mobility LLC, 499 F.3d 663, 666 (7th Cir. 2007). "District courts have broad discretion to deny leave to amend where there is undue delay, bad faith, dilatory motive, repeated failure to cure deficiencies, undue prejudice to the defendants, or where the amendment would be futile." Arreola v. Godinez, 546 F.3d 788, 796 (7th Cir. 2008).

II. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs' propose amending their complaint to: (1) add four new individual plaintiffs— Rebecca Broussard, Stanley Lundrigan, Sebastian Strizu, and Christine Tacorda—alleging violations of Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA"); (2) add one new individual plaintiff—Krystal Douglas—alleging a violation of Title VII only; and (3) add two new defendants—Ascension Seton Highland Lakes ("Highland Lakes") and Ascension Seton Williamson ("Williamson") (i.e., the employers of some of the new proposed plaintiffs)—both of which are Texas corporations.2 Of note, the ADA claims proposed on behalf of Ms. Broussard, Mr. Lundrigan, Mr. Strizu, and Ms. Tacorda are the first time claims under the ADA have been raised in this lawsuit. Defendants oppose these amendments. First, they argue that Defendants will suffer undue prejudice from the proposed amendment because of the delay in adding the new plaintiffs and claims which will "inject[] new issues and chang[e] the scope of discovery." [Filing No. 85 at 4- 5.] Second, Plaintiffs say the proposed amendments are futile for numerous reasons: (a) the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the two new proposed defendants; (b) the proposed ADA claims are untimely and unexhausted; (c) the ADA claims fail as a matter of law as pled in the proposed complaint; (d) the ADA claims are incapable of class treatment; and (e) the proposed new

2 Plaintiffs also wish to dismiss one of the individual Plaintiffs (Jodi Wolfenbarger) from the lawsuit, which can be accomplished without amendment. [Filing No. 82 at 3.] complaint fails to cure the defects identified by Defendants in their pending Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Fourth Amended Complaint. [Filing No. 61.] Defendants' arguments are addressed below. A. Futility

"Usually, a defendant asserts futility when the original complaint fails to state a claim and the question is whether a proposed amended complaint might cure the original's defects." Lukis v. Whitepages Inc., 535 F. Supp. 3d 775, 793-94 (N.D. Ill. 2021) (citing Runnion ex rel. Runnion v. Girl Scouts of Greater Chi. & Nw. Ind., 786 F.3d 510, 520 (7th Cir. 2015)). Futility tests the proposed amendments under "the legal sufficiency standard of Rule 12(b)(6)." Runnion, 786 F.3d at 524. See also Townsel v. DISH Network L.L.C., 668 F.3d 967, 969 (7th Cir. 2012) ("The judge deemed the proposed amendment futile, which is functionally the same as allowing amendment and then dismissing under [Rule] 12(b)(6)."). 1. The Proposed ADA Claims Count IV of Plaintiffs' proposed amended complaint includes a claim under the ADA on

behalf of proposed new plaintiffs Rebecca Broussard, Stanley Lundrigan, Christine Tacorda, and Sebastian Strizu (the "ADA Plaintiffs") and a class of those similarly situated. [Filing No. 82-1 at 231.] The ADA Plaintiffs allege that Defendants "regarded [them] as being disabled because of their COVID-19 vaccination status" and "on that basis, Defendants suspended, constructively discharged, and/or terminated [the ADA] Plaintiffs' employment." [Filing No. 82-1 at 231.] More specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants regarded them as disabled "because as unvaccinated individuals[, Defendants] believed they were more transmissible of the Covid-19 virus (and its variants) than those who were vaccinated…." [Filing No. 82-1 at 206.] Defendants assert that the ADA claims are futile for a number of reasons. a. Legal Sufficiency Defendants contend that the ADA Plaintiffs fail to state a plausible ADA claim because the ADA Plaintiffs' unvaccinated status or perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 is not a disability under the ADA. [Filing No. 85 at 10.] In support of this contention, Defendants cite numerous

cases addressing vaccination status from across the country. [Filing No. 85 at 10-12.] In response, the ADA Plaintiffs try to thinly slice their allegations, arguing that they were discriminated against not because they are unvaccinated but rather "because they are perceived to have a physical impairment, i.e., non-vaccination and accompanying increased contagiousness, that Defendants believe … renders [the ADA] Plaintiffs subject to infecting others at a rate faster than other employees." [Filing No. 99 at 12.] This finer interpretation of their allegations, say Plaintiffs, renders all the cases cited by Defendants inapposite. [Filing No. 99 at 12.] The ADA Plaintiffs further argue that the 2008 amendments to the ADA provide broader protections such that any perception by an employer of an impairment is actionable. [Filing No. 99 at 13-14.] A person is "regarded as" disabled if he establishes that he "has been subjected to an action

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APPLEGATE v. ST. VINCENT HEALTH, INC., (S.D. Ind. 2023).

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