Dixon v. University of Toledo

638 F. Supp. 2d 847, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66628, 2009 WL 2341994
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJuly 31, 2009
Docket3:08 CV 2806
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 638 F. Supp. 2d 847 (Dixon v. University of Toledo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dixon v. University of Toledo, 638 F. Supp. 2d 847, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66628, 2009 WL 2341994 (N.D. Ohio 2009).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KATZ, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff Crystal Dixon’s motion to amend the Amended Complaint and file a Second Amended Complaint (Doc. No. 25) which Defendants oppose (Doc. No. 28). This matter is also before the Court on Defendants’ motions to dismiss (Doc No. 12, 20) to which Plaintiff has filed oppositions (Doc. No. 19, 22) and Defendants have filed a reply (Doc. No. 23). The Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, and the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”).

Defendants consist of the University of Toledo (“University”); Lloyd Jacobs, individually and in his official capacity as President of the University; and, William Logie, individually and in his official capacity as Vice President for Human Resources and Campus Safety.

I. Background

A. Procedural

On December 1, 2008, Dixon filed her original Complaint. (Doc No. 1). The Complaint requested relief on the basis of the following two claims: (1) Defendants violated Plaintiffs First Amendment rights, and (2) Defendants violated Plaintiffs Fourteenth Amendments rights protected under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On January 15, 2009, Defendants filed their Answer as well their first motion to dismiss the Complaint. (Doc No. 12, 13). In the motion, Defendants expressed that all claims must be dismissed against the University and Jacobs and Logie in their official capacities. (Doc. No. 12). Defendants believed that the University, as a state instrumentality, is immune from 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims, and that the University is not a “person” under the statute. Furthermore, Defendants argued that the Eleventh Amendment precludes an award of monetary damages on Plaintiffs claims against the University and against Jacobs and Logie acting in their official capacity for the state. (IcL).

On March 6, 2009, Dixon amended the Complaint and, in doing so, mooted Defendants’ first motion to dismiss. (Doc No. 14, 18). The Amended Complaint does not bring any claims for relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983' against the University. (Doc No. 19). Moreover, the Amended Complaint no longer seeks monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Jacobs and Logie in their official capacities. (Id,.). Both parties note that the Amended Complaint effectively mooted Defendants’ first, motion to dismiss. (Doc No. 19 at 2; 20 at 2). However,, the Amended Complaint adds an EPA claim against all Defendants. On March 20, 2009, Defendants filed their second motion to dismiss, this time arguing against Plaintiffs EPA claim. (Doc. No. 20). The Court shall address Defendants’ second motion to dismiss in Part III of this opinion.

B. Factual

At this stage, the Court views the Complaint in a light most favorable to Plaintiff, accepts all of its factual allegations as true, and resolves every doubt in Plaintiffs favor. The facts as alleged by Plaintiff Dixon are summarized below.

Prior to the events leading to the present case, Plaintiff Crystal Dixon was working full-time as the Acting Administrator for Human Resources at the Medical University of Ohio. In the summer of 2006, The University of Toledo merged with The *850 Medical University of Ohio. Dixon’s employment continued with the University as the Associate Vice President for Human Resources for the Medical University’s campus. In July 2007, Dixon was promoted to Interim Associate Vice President for Human Resources for the entire University-

In April 2008, Michael Miller published an article in the Toledo Free Press. Michael Miller, Lighting the Fuse: Gay Rights and Wrongs, Toledo Free Press (April 4, 2008), available online at: http:// www.toledofreepress.com/2008/04/04/gayrights-and-wrongs/. Miller’s article compared the plight of African-Americans during the Civil Rights movement to that of homosexuals fighting for equal rights today. Plaintiff Dixon felt compelled to respond for religious and other personal reasons. Dixon’s article was also published by the Toledo Free Press and took the opposing view of Miller’s article. Crystal Dixon, Gay Rights and Wrongs: Another Perspective, Toledo Free Press (April 18, 2008), available online at: http://www. toledofreepress.com/2008/04/18/ gay-rights- and-wrongs-another-perspective/. Dixon claims that she wrote this article as a private citizen and it was not at all associated with her life as an employee of the University.

The University took umbrage with Dixon’s article and conducted an investigation that ultimately led to Dixon’s termination from the University. On May 8, 2008, the University held a hearing and, several days later, Dixon learned by mail that she was fired. The termination letter from the University allegedly stated that the reasons for Dixon’s termination was that her article’s underlying message was in direct conflict with the “University’s policies and procedures as well as its Core Values of the Strategic Plan which is mission critical.” As a result of the termination, Dixon brought this suit.

In their most recent motion, Defendants ask only for dismissal of the EPA claim (Doc No. 20), and thus the Court will not consider the First and Fourteenth Amendment claims.

Dixon alleges that when she was terminated, a man who was grossly under qualified for her job replaced her. (Doc No. 20, ¶ 33). Dixon alleges that her successor is a “deposed Dean” who resigned after the University’s faculty publicly voiced concerns about his leadership and responsibility for carrying out Dixon’s former duties. (Id.). Dixon alleges that her successor’s annual salary was $40,000 more than her former salary and that he preformed substantially similar work, which required substantially equal skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. (Id.). Furthermore, Dixon alleges that Defendants’ culture of unequal pay is further evidenced by the fact that no downward pay adjustment occurred when Defendant Logie was demoted from Interim Sr. Vice President for Finance and Administration to Vice President for Human Resources and Campus Safety, a lesser role in the University. (Id.).

II. Motion for leave to file a Second Amended Complaint

Before turning to Defendants’ second motion to dismiss, the Court shall address Plaintiff Dixon’s July 1, 2009 motion for leave to file a Second Amended Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 15. (Doc. No. 25). Dixon seeks to add a claim for relief pursuant to the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (“FPA”). Plaintiff was “unaware of the Fair Pay Act when she filed her First Amended Complaint but subsequently discovered its existence while conducting continuing legal education.” (Id. at 2).

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Bluebook (online)
638 F. Supp. 2d 847, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66628, 2009 WL 2341994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dixon-v-university-of-toledo-ohnd-2009.