Davis v. River Region Health Systems

903 F. Supp. 2d 424, 2012 WL 4857823, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147292, 116 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 575
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedOctober 12, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 5:11-cv-132-CWR-LRA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 903 F. Supp. 2d 424 (Davis v. River Region Health Systems) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. River Region Health Systems, 903 F. Supp. 2d 424, 2012 WL 4857823, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147292, 116 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 575 (S.D. Miss. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CARLTON W. REEVES, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant River Region Health Systems (“River Region”)’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Docket No. 60, its supporting brief, Docket No. 61, and its reply brief Docket No. 64. Plaintiff Catherine Davis (“Davis”) has filed her response, Docket No. 63, and the matter is ready for review. The Motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. Factual and Procedural History

Davis worked as a surgical technologist at River Region for twelve weeks spanning September 2010 to December 2010. Shortly after she was hired, Davis was assigned to work alongside James Lynn (“Lynn”), another surgical technologist who had worked at River Region for more than forty years. Davis alleges that Lynn began harassing her in October 2010 with “sexual advances and offensive comments.” Docket No. 63 at 1. On three separate occasions, Lynn reported the “unwanted and offensive” actions to her immediate supervisor, Sandy Agnone (“Agnone”). Id. at 1-3. Agnone dismissed the allegations, telling Davis that she was hired because of her looks, and suggesting that she “allow Mr. Lynn to rub on her in order to alleviate the hostility.” Id. at 3. Agnone continued to place Davis with Lynn, despite Davis’s requests that she not be placed with him. After he learned that Davis had reported him, Lynn allegedly “escalated his offensive comments and sexual advances” toward Davis, and used his advanced tenure at the hospital to intimidate her. Id. at 2. At the same time, Agnone used her position of authority to ridicule Davis for making complaints. Id. at 3. Davis stopped working at River Region because the stress of working at the hospital led her to have an anxiety attack and her physician told her that continuing to work at River Region posed “serious health risks.” Id. at 4.

On December 17, 2010, Davis was disciplined for failing to comply with River Region’s absence policy; she received a written warning and verbal counseling. Docket No. 61 at 3. Afterward, Davis requested and received an extended leave of absence. Id. at 1. She submitted her resignation letter to River Region in January [426]*4262011, citing “medical reasons.” Id. Davis did not report the harassment to the Human Resources Department, despite River Region’s policy instructing its employees to do so. Id. Five months later, Davis filed a Charge of Discrimination with the EEOC, giving River Region’s Human Resources Department its first notice of Davis’s harassment claims. Id. at 2.

In September 2011, Davis filed suit in this Court claiming unlawful sexual harassment and retaliation pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with several state law claims. River Region has moved for summary judgment, arguing that all of Davis’s claims fail as a matter of law. Davis opposes the motion in its entirety. This Court has personal and subject matter jurisdiction and is ready to rule.

II. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). When confronted with these motions, the Court focuses on “genuine” disputes of “material” facts. A dispute is genuine “if the evidence supporting its resolution in favor of the party opposing summary judgment, together with any inferences in such party’s favor that the evidence allows, would be sufficient to support a verdict in favor of that party.” St. Amant v. Benoit, 806 F.2d 1294, 1297 (5th Cir.1987). A fact is material if it might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A party asserting that a fact cannot be or is genuinely disputed must support the assertion by “citing to particular parts of materials in the record.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1)(A). The Court will “view the evidence and draw reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the non-movant,” Maddox v. Townsend & Sons, Inc., 639 F.3d 214, 216 (5th Cir.2011) (citations omitted), but unsubstantiated assertions are not competent summary judgment evidence, Forsyth v. Barr, 19 F.3d 1527, 1537 (5th Cir.1994).

III. Law and Analysis

A. Hostile Work Environment and Constructive Discharge

Davis has brought both a hostile work environment claim and a constructive discharge claim. To establish hostile work environment, Davis must demonstrate that “(1) she is a member of a protected group; (2) she was the victim of uninvited sexual harassment; (3) the harassment was based on sex; (4) the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of [her] employment and (5) her employer knew or should have known of the harassment and failed to take prompt remedial action.” Harvill v. Westward Communications, L.L.C., 433 F.3d 428, 434 (5th Cir.2005). Davis bears the burden of producing evidence at trial that supports each element of her hostile work environment claim. Davis has not met that burden because she has failed to satisfy the fifth element of her prima facie case.

The Fifth Circuit holds that before Davis can establish the fifth element of her prima facie ease, she “must first show that she ‘took advantage of [the] corrective opportunities provided by the employer.’ ” May v. Fedex Freight East, Inc., 374 Fed.Appx. 510, 512 (5th Cir.2010) (per curiam) (quoting Harvill, 433 F.3d at 437). This holding alludes to the long-established Ellerth/Faragher affirmative defense to hostile work environment claims; this defense is also available to claims of constructive discharge. See McRunnels v. Calsonic Kansei N. Am., Inc., 5:07-CV-113, 2008 WL 4965307, at *11 (S.D.Miss. Nov. 18, 2008) (“because Title VII contemplates the parties’ efforts at conciliation as an alter[427]*427native to litigation, the plaintiffs’ failure to allow [the employer] an opportunity to remedy the situation before they abandoned their jobs was unreasonable as a matter of law and is fatal to their claim of constructive discharge.”) (citing Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 764, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998); Hockman v. Westward Communications, LLC, 407 F.3d 317, 332 (5th Cir.2004)).

Under the Ellerth/Faragher

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Johnson v. Fluor Corp.
181 F. Supp. 3d 325 (M.D. Louisiana, 2016)
Collins v. Jackson Public School District
58 F. Supp. 3d 705 (S.D. Mississippi, 2014)
Jenkins v. University of Minnesota
50 F. Supp. 3d 1084 (D. Minnesota, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
903 F. Supp. 2d 424, 2012 WL 4857823, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147292, 116 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 575, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-river-region-health-systems-mssd-2012.