Calmes v. JPMorgan Chase Bank

943 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2013 WL 1856064, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62258
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMay 1, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 12-281
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 943 F. Supp. 2d 666 (Calmes v. JPMorgan Chase Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Calmes v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, 943 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2013 WL 1856064, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62258 (E.D. La. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

CARL J. BARBIER, District Judge.

Before the Court are Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Rec. Doc. 16), Plaintiffs opposition thereto (Rec. Doc. 20), and Defendant’s reply to same (Rec. Doc. 23). Defendant’s motion was set for hearing on Tuesday, April 16, 2013, on the briefs. The Court, having considered the motion and memoranda of counsel, the record, and the applicable law, finds that Defendant’s motion should be GRANTED for the reasons set forth more fully below.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND BACKGROUND FACTS

This suit arises out of same-sex sexual harassment, retaliation, and constructive discharge claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (“Title VII”). On January 27, 2012, Plaintiff Thomas Calmes filed his Complaint in this Court, naming JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase”) and its employee, Dan Ritchel (“Mr. Ritchel”), as Defendants. On March 20, 2010, Plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, which dismissed Mr. Ritchel from this suit. Therefore, the only remaining Defendant is Chase. Plaintiffs Complaint alleges that while he was an employee at Chase, he was sexually harassed by his supervisor, Mr. Ritchel. Plaintiff asserts that when he reported the harassment to a Chase human resources (“HR”) representative, he was suspended. Plaintiff asserts that these actions were all in violation of Title VII. The relevant background facts in this case are as follows.

Plaintiff was an employee of Chase for over twenty years. From 2003 to 2009, Plaintiff served as a National Account Representative for the Chase At Work Program. Mr. Ritchel began serving as Plaintiffs supervisor in August 2009 and remained Plaintiffs supervisor until April 9, 2010, when Plaintiff was placed on administrative leave, with pay.1

Plaintiff contends that while serving as his supervisor, Mr. Ritchel intentionally harassed, humiliated, and belittled him. In particular, he describes the following instances of harassment as incidents that made him feel like his job was in jeopardy. First, Plaintiff asserts that on a visit to Louisiana, before becoming Plaintiffs supervisor, Mr. Ritchel once remarked to a Chase customer that Plaintiff was “only good for” picking up vomit.2 Second, Plaintiff contends that on Mr. Ritchel’s first visit to New Orleans as his supervisor, while Mr. Ritchel was riding with Plaintiff through New Orleans, Mr. Ritchel badgered Plaintiff in a facetious and sarcastic manner about how Plaintiff knew to take a different route to their intended location.3 Third, Mr. Ritchel allegedly referred to Plaintiff as “Eeyore” from Winnie the Pooh, accusing Plaintiff of never [671]*671having anything positive to say and telling Plaintiff that he reminded him of his (Mr. Ritchel’s) mother.4 Fourth, Plaintiff asserts that later, on the same day that Mr. Ritehel referred to Plaintiff as Eeyore, while Plaintiff was driving Mr. Ritehel, Mr. Ritehel began laughing mockingly at Plaintiff, telling Plaintiff that he was “so funny” and that he (Mr. Ritehel) “just like[d] f* * *ing with [Plaintiff].”5 Fifth, Plaintiff states that on various occasions Mr. Ritehel would make comments on the phone in which he told Plaintiff that he had to increase his productivity or he would “have a problem with” his job.6 Sixth, Plaintiff asserts that once when the two men were visiting a client, Mr. Ritehel allegedly placed his hands on Plaintiffs chest and/or shoulders, adjusted Plaintiffs tie, and told Plaintiff “when you’re with me, you need to look your best at all times.”7 Seventh, while leaving lunch with Plaintiff on one occasion, Mr. Ritehel told Plaintiff that he could not find his cell phone.8 Mr. Ritehel then asked Plaintiff to walk back to his hotel with him to look for the phone.9 When the men arrived at the hotel, Plaintiff explains that he sat down in the lobby and Mr. Ritehel “turned around and said, why don’t you come up to my room.”10 When Plaintiff refused, Mr. Ritehel responded by asking, “are you sure you don’t want to come up to my room?”11 Lastly, Plaintiff explains that in January 2010, upon giving Mr. Ritehel a Christmas present, Mr. Ritehel told Plaintiff that “this means the world to me.... if I wasn’t alone — if I was alone with you, I would give you a big hug and a kiss right now, but we’re in public so I can’t.”12 Plaintiff reports that due to these incidents and his own rejection of Mr. Ritehel’s alleged advances, he felt that his job was in jeopardy.13

Plaintiff asserts that prior to December 2009, while he did not file a formal com[672]*672plaint against Mr. Ritchel, he informally spoke to an HR representative at Chase, Lee McConnell (“Ms. McConnell”), about the aforementioned incidents.14 Later, on April 5, 2010, Plaintiff had a formal conversation with Ms. McConnell about the alleged harassment.15 Plaintiff reports that the conversation was prompted by an email that he received from Mr. Ritchel on April 2, 2010.16 Plaintiff explains that on April 2, 2010, Mr. Ritchel emailed him and told him to attend a meeting at the Severn branch office on April 7, 2010.17 In response to the email, Plaintiff attempted to contact Mr. Ritchel several times to find out more about the meeting.18 When Plaintiff was unable to contact Mr. Ritchel, he decided to speak with Ms. McConnell about the meeting.19 Plaintiff explains that during the course of his conversation with Ms. McConnell, he also told her about the alleged harassment.20 At some point before April 7, 2010, Plaintiff also had an additional conversation with Mr. Ritchel’s supervisor, Travis Rieger, about the alleged harassment.21

On April 7, 2010, Plaintiff met with a representative from Chase’s global security investigations team at the Severn branch office and was informed that he was being investigated for possibly padding his production and expense reports.22 On April 9, 2010, after the meeting but before the investigation was terminated, Plaintiff was contacted by Travis Rieger, and told that he was being suspended.23 The decision to suspend Plaintiff was made by Travis Riegar’s supervisor, Kim Bera.24 As of April 11, 2010, Plaintiff was suspended from Chase, with pay, pending investigation of the alleged false reporting of production and expenditure reports.25 On April 12, 2010, Plaintiff emailed Ms. McConnell, Travis Rieger, and Mr. Ritchel a copy of a letter dated April 9, 2010, [673]*673detailing Mr. Ritchel’s alleged harassment.26 On June 10, 2010, Plaintiff submitted his letter of resignation to Miriam de la Cruz, Chase’s HR Manager.27 The letter notified the company that Plaintiffs last day with Chase would be June 11, 2010, as he had found other employment.28 On June 15, 2010, Plaintiff filed a “Charge of Discrimination” with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).29

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943 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2013 WL 1856064, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/calmes-v-jpmorgan-chase-bank-laed-2013.