Bryant v. Taylor

244 F. Supp. 3d 209, 2017 WL 1154964, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44184
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 27, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 16-1037 (RDM)
StatusPublished

This text of 244 F. Supp. 3d 209 (Bryant v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryant v. Taylor, 244 F. Supp. 3d 209, 2017 WL 1154964, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44184 (D.D.C. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

RANDOLPH D. MOSS, United States District Judge-

This race and age discrimination case is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 5) and Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to Amend (Dkt. 10). For the reasons explained below, Defendant’s motion is GRANTED-and Plaintiffs motion is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant Pat Taylor is the President of Pat Taylor and Associates,, Inc., a “job [211]*211recruitment and placement agency for legal professionals.” Dkt. 5-1 at 5-6. Plaintiff Vicki Carol Bryant, proceeding pro se, is an attorney who was seeking work. Dkt. 1 at 6 (Compl.).

On February 10, 2015, Bryant respond ed to one of Taylor’s agency’s job postings, leading to a telephone interview with Taylor. Id.; see id. at 64. Although Bryant included a resume in her initial application, id, at 6, that resume was organized by type of work rather than by year, see id. at 66-69, and stated that a “[m]ore [extensive [cjurrieulum [vjitae” was “available upon request,” id. at 69. During the interview, Taylor asked Bryant for a “chronological resume listing every legal job” she had held—a request that Bryant now characterizes as “unreasonable.” Id. at 6. Bryant nonetheless prepared such a resume and submitted it to' Taylor. Id.’, see id. at 72-78, 87. Bryant was not selected for that particular job. Id. at 6. Bryant later submitted her resume to Taylor’s agency in response to other job postings, but “never received any replies.” Id. at 6.

Bryant does not allege that these interactions with Taylor’s agency involved any discriminatory intent. See Dkt. il' at 3. Rather, she says, the initial telephone interview is relevant to this case because it gave Taylor an opportunity to infer from Bryant’s voice that Bryant is African American. See id. at 4, 5. According to Bryant, Taylor also could have inferred Bryant’s age and race by inspecting Bryant’s various resumes, which describe the law degree she received from Howard University in 1985. Id. at 3; see Dkt. 1 at 69.

What Bryant does challenge in this case is her nonselection for a position that Taylor’s agency posted on October 20, 2015, which “s[ought] Portuguese-fluent attorneys for a review/translation project.” Dkt. 1 at 50; see id. at 6. Bryant again submitted her resume (although not the chronological one that Taylor earlier had requested). Id. at 6; see id. at 61-63. Bryant’s submission prompted the following email exchange: On October 20, 2015, Bryant wrote to Taylor:

Good Afternoon,
I am fluent in Portuguese and have attached my docreview resume.
Regards,
Vicki C. Bryant, Esq.

Id. at 50. Eleven minutes later, Taylor replied:

Thank you for your interest in Pat Taylor and Associates, Inc, We will review yóur resume and if it meets our client’s requirements, we will invite you in for an interview[.]

Id. at 51 (emphasis added). Six days later, on October 26, 2015, at 5:09 p.m., Bryant followed up:

Good Evening, Ms. Taylor:
I received a response from you a week or so ago that you had submitted my resume for this project. Have you an update?
Regards,
Vicki C. Bryant, Esq.

Id. at 53 (emphasis added). At 5:15 p.m. that day (six minutes later), Taylor responded:

Hi Vicki
It was not .our agency sorry
Pat Taylor

Id. at 54. Bryant alleges that this statement was “a blatant lie.” Id. at 7. At 5:29 p.m. (fourteen minutes later), Bryant wrote back:

Dear Ms. Taylor:
This is the email response that I received from you. [Taylor’s earlier email of October 20, 2Ó15, was reprinted below.] Was my resume deemed appropriate? I would appreciate knowing whether or not you deemed it appropriate and [212]*212why. Thank you very much for your consideration.
Thank you very much.
Regards,
Vicki C. Bryant, Esq.

Id. at 57. Bryant did not receive an immediate response. At 11:49 p.m,, she wrote again:

Dear Ms. Taylor:
Yes, you have confirmed what I had heard about your agency. Thank you.
Regards,
Vicki C. Bryant, Esq.

Id. at 59. By this comment, Bryant says that she “meant that other African-Americans from 20 years before, [her]self as well, had complained to [her] about arbitrary requests from [Taylor’s] agency for the African-Americans’ law school transcripts, [implying] that passage of the bar was not good enough.” Id. at 7. Bryant also alleges that “[o]ther similarly situated agencies in Washington, D.C., do not request law school transcripts for temporary contract assignments,” id., but Bryant nowhere alleges that Taylor requested her law school transcript in response to any of the submissions described in the complaint.

After the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) declined to bring a case against Taylor’s agency, see id. at 36, Bryant filed this action against Taylor personally for (1) race discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and (2) age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, id. at 4-5. Taylor has moved to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) on the grounds that “individuaos]” cannot be held liable under the applicable statutes and that, in any event, Bryant has failed to allege facts sufficient to state a claim for discrimination. Dkt. 5 at 1. Bryant has moved for leave to amend her complaint. Dkt. 10.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Factual Sufficiency of the Complaint

To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must allege “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the'' misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). This test is “context-specific,” but the key inquiry is whether the alleged facts “permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (emphasis added); see also id, at 682, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (applying this standard to a discrimination claim).

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Related

Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Abhe & Svoboda, Inc. v. Chao
508 F.3d 1052 (D.C. Circuit, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 F. Supp. 3d 209, 2017 WL 1154964, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryant-v-taylor-dcd-2017.