Benjamin Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ.

105 F.4th 856
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 24, 2024
Docket23-1808
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 105 F.4th 856 (Benjamin Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benjamin Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ., 105 F.4th 856 (6th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b) File Name: 24a0136p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ BENJAMIN STANLEY, │ Plaintiff-Appellant, │ > No. 23-1808 │ v. │ │ WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY; WARREN HILLS and │ KATIE DECAMP, individually and in their professional │ capacities, │ Defendants-Appellees. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 1:23-cv-00206—Jane M. Beckering, District Judge.

Decided and Filed: June 24, 2024

Before: CLAY, THAPAR, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL

ON BRIEF: Eric Delaporte, DELAPORTE LYNCH, PLLC, Mason, Michigan, for Appellant. Daniel B. Tukel, Joseph E. Richotte, BUTZEL LONG, P.C., Troy, Michigan, for Appellees. _________________

OPINION _________________

MATHIS, Circuit Judge. Benjamin Stanley worked for Western Michigan University (“WMU”) for about one month when WMU terminated his employment. Stanley then sued WMU and a few of its employees. He claimed that WMU and certain supervisors discriminated and retaliated against in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Stanley also brought a claim under Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act (“PWDCRA”), No. 23-1808 Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ. Page 2

as well as a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district court dismissed Stanley’s federal claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction based on Eleventh Amendment immunity and dismissed his state-law claims for failure to comply with the Michigan Court of Claims Act’s notification statute. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.6431. The district court also denied leave for Stanley to amend his complaint. We affirm the district court’s dismissal of Stanley’s federal claims and the denial of Stanley’s motion for leave to amend his complaint, but we vacate the judgment in part and remand to the district court to dismiss Stanley’s federal and state-law claims without prejudice.

I.

WMU is a public university in Michigan. WMU employed Benjamin Stanley as a utility food worker in its dining hall for 31 days, from early October to mid-November 2020. Stanley claims he did not complete training for the job because “[p]artway through the training, the employee leading the training was called away for another task.” R. 1, PageID 2.

WMU terminated Stanley’s employment during his probationary period for excessive tardiness and failure to follow proper clocking-in procedures. Stanley has severe ADHD that he claims impacted his ability to timely clock in, such as by causing him to occasionally forget his swiping ID card. Stanley claims he was “disciplined for being late after having to wait for WMU staff to perform his required temperature check for COVID-19 purposes,” even though he was told he would not be disciplined following such occurrences. Id. at 3. Because Stanley sometimes forgot his ID card, he requested a reasonable accommodation—such as a punch card to be kept onsite—which WMU denied. Stanley also spoke to WMU’s office of institutional equity to determine whether he would be able to use his service dog in any department, including dining services, which Stanley claims led to employees in that office “asking improper questions regarding [his] disability.” Id. Stanley disclosed the tasks his service dog performed but did not elaborate on his disability or medical history.

Before Stanley requested a reasonable accommodation, he was “told that he was doing a fine job and was on track to complete his probationary period.” Id. However, “WMU’s praise changed” when, on or about November 10, 2020, WMU told Stanley to stop showing up to work No. 23-1808 Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ. Page 3

late. Id. at 4. Stanley claims that he could not comply with WMU’s timeliness standards because of his disability, for which WMU did not provide a reasonable accommodation. Katie DeCamp, the head supervisor of dining services at WMU, indicated that Stanley was told during training that he could use the speaker at the building’s entrance to ask someone to open the door for him so that he would not be late, but Stanley claims he was never told about the speaker. On November 10, Stanley claims he was informed that the hospitality department “doesn’t do” accommodations, after which he contacted WMU’s human resources department. Id. The following day, WMU terminated Stanley.

After receiving his notice of right to sue from the U.S. Department of Justice, Stanley filed suit. He brought three claims: (1) discrimination under Title I of the ADA; (2) retaliation and intimidation under Title V of the ADA and under the PWDCRA; and (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress against all defendants, including unknown John Doe and Jane Doe employees of WMU, in their individual and professional capacities. Stanley sought the following relief: “actual and compensatory damages”; punitive damages, attorney fees, and costs; “whatever other legal or equitable remedies [the district court] deems reasonable and just pursuant to statute and common law”; and “any other relief the [district court] deems fit.” Id. at 6.

WMU, DeCamp, and Warren Hills (“Defendants”) moved to dismiss Stanley’s complaint. They sought to dismiss the ADA claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds, and the state-law claims for failure to comply with Michigan procedural law. Stanley responded in opposition to Defendants’ motion and sought leave to amend his complaint.

The district court dismissed all of Stanley’s claims against Defendants with prejudice. The district court also denied Stanley leave to file an amended complaint, finding that Stanley’s proposed amendment would be futile.

II.

As an initial matter, Defendants contend that we lack jurisdiction to adjudicate Stanley’s appeal. That is because, according to Defendants, when Stanley appealed, the district court had No. 23-1808 Stanley v. W. Mich. Univ. Page 4

not entered a final judgment. And when the district court did enter a final judgment, Stanley did not file a new or amended notice of appeal.

Before reaching the merits, we must ensure that we have appellate jurisdiction. Watkins v. Healy, 986 F.3d 648, 657 (6th Cir. 2021). Subject to exceptions not applicable here, Congress has granted us appellate jurisdiction “only from ‘final decisions’ of the district courts.” Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 524 (1985) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1291). A final decision “ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.” Catlin v. United States, 324 U.S. 229, 233 (1945). After entry of a final decision, a party must generally file a notice of appeal within 30 days. Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1). Filing a notice of appeal “after the court announces a decision or order—but before entry of the judgment or order—is treated as filed on the date of and after the entry.” Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(2); see Bonner v. Perry, 564 F.3d 424, 427 (6th Cir. 2009).

On August 7, 2023, the district court dismissed all claims that Stanley brought against Defendants and denied Stanley leave to file an amended complaint.

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