Donald v. City of Chicago

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 20, 2024
Docket1:20-cv-06815
StatusUnknown

This text of Donald v. City of Chicago (Donald v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donald v. City of Chicago, (N.D. Ill. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

Cynthia Donald, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ) v. ) No. 20 C 6815 ) ) The City of Chicago, a ) municipal corporation; and ) Eddie Johnson, individually ) and as an agent of the City of ) Chicago, ) ) Defendants. )

Memorandum Opinion and Order In May 2016, Chicago police officer Cynthia Donald began working on the detail of Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) Superintendent Eddie Johnson. After Johnson retired, Donald came forward with claims that Johnson had for years sexually harassed and assaulted her. She filed this lawsuit, in which the following claims remain: a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of her equal protection rights; a claim under the Illinois Gender Violence Act, 749 Ill. Comp. Stat. 82/1 et seq.; and common law spoliation of evidence. Against the City of Chicago (“the City”), Donald asserts a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., for sexual harassment, as well as a § 1983 claim under Monell for violation of various Fourteenth Amendment rights stemming from the sexual harassment she claims to have endured. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on all claims, and Johnson has filed a separate motion to strike Donald’s statement of additional material facts.1 For the following reasons, the City’s and Johnson’s motions for summary judgment are granted,

and Johnson’s motion to strike Donald’s statement of additional material facts in its entirety is denied. I. Defendants raise instances in which Donald failed to comply with Local Rule 56.1, both in responding to defendants’ statements of material facts, and in submitting her statement of additional material facts. One issue is that Donald greatly exceeds the 40 paragraphs she is allowed in her statement of additional facts pursuant to Local Rule 56.1(d)(5), if each subparagraph is counted as a paragraph. Counting subparagraphs as discrete paragraphs is consistent with the Local Rules’ demand for “concise numbered paragraphs,” Local Rule 56.1(d)(1), and makes sense because

litigants could easily circumvent the Local Rules’ limits if they could simply nest additional facts in subparagraphs. See Keen v. Merck Sharp v. Dohme Corp., No. 15-cv-1178, 2018 WL 1156203, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 5, 2018) (counting subparts as separate

1 As discussed below, the City also objects to Donald’s statement, but does so within the confines of its summary judgment reply brief. paragraphs). Defendants’ broad request that I disregard Donald’s statement of additional material facts in its entirety, due to this and other shortcomings they identify, is denied because I conclude the better course is to reach the merits of Donald’s claims and deal with defendants’ objections individually. See

Stevo v. Frasor, 662 F.3d 880, 887 (7th Cir. 2011) (“[T]he decision whether to apply the [local] rule[s] strictly or to overlook any transgression is one left to the district court’s discretion.” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). Defendants alternatively ask that I disregard any facts beyond the 40-paragraph limit, a remedy courts regularly employ. See Green v. Harrah’s Ill. Corp., No. 03 C 2203, 2004 WL 1102272, at *2–3 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 30, 2004) (declining to consider facts in excess of those allowed by standing order); Akpa v. Nw. Mem’l Healthcare, No. 18 C 7512, 2023 WL 5348758, at *1–2 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 21, 2023) (considering twice the number of facts contemplated by the Local Rules, but nothing beyond that); Connell v. KLN Steel

Prods. Ltd., No. 04 C 194, 2009 WL 691292, at *2 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 16, 2009) (declining to consider facts beyond 40 permitted by Local Rules). I agree that enforcing the Local Rules is important “[b]ecause of the high volume of summary judgment motions and the benefits of clear presentation of relevant evidence and law,” Stevo, 662 F.3d at 886–87, and that Donald’s failure to abide by the rules should not go without consequence. But because Donald’s statement responds to two separate summary judgment motions brought by two separate parties, I will allow her double the Local Rules’ limit--that is, I will allow her 80 paragraphs--meaning that anything beyond paragraph 29(l) is disregarded.2 In fairness, the City must play by the same rules it seeks to

enforce against Donald. Its own statement of facts exceeds its limit of 80 if subparagraphs are included. See Local Rule 56.1(d)(5) (allowing the moving party 80 paragraphs in its statement of fact and the nonmoving party 40 paragraphs in its statement of additional facts). Applying the same method as I applied to Donald’s statement of additional facts, facts beyond paragraph 58 in the City’s statement are disregarded.3 Defendants identify other issues in Donald’s responses to their statements of facts and in her statement of additional facts, including mischaracterizations of the record, inappropriate additional facts given in responses, general denials, evidentiary

2 For those counting, I decline to consider defendants’ contention that some paragraphs or subparagraphs contain multiple facts. The work required to parse what counts as a fact at that level of detail would exceed the benefit here. Also, for those paragraphs containing lettered subparagraphs, I count the numbered paragraph and the first subparagraph--subparagraph (a)--as a single paragraph, since the lead, numbered paragraph typically introduces a general fact before listing specific instances in the lettered subparagraphs.

3 Ultimately, as will become clear below, the facts disregarded in both Donald’s and the City’s statements are unnecessary to resolve the summary judgment motions anyway. issues, facts unsupported by the record, and inappropriate legal argument. I will address these concerns below only where relevant to resolving the summary judgment motions. II. The following factual background notes in certain places

where the parties disagree, but I am mindful that at this stage I must resolve all evidentiary conflicts in Donald’s favor and give her “the benefit of all reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the record.” Coleman v. Donahoe, 667 F.3d 835, 842 (7th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). Donald began her career as a CPD officer in 2006, primarily working as a patrol officer. She was detailed to the Office of the Superintendent in May 2016, where she worked directly for Johnson. She claims that he approached her about the role and did not interview any other candidates; Johnson maintains Donald put in a bid for the position after hearing about it from a friend. Her work initially consisted of taking notes for Johnson at community

meetings and following up on questions presented at those meetings, and she eventually served as a driver for Johnson as well. All agree that Donald and Johnson engaged in sexual contact beginning in the summer of 2016 and continuing until at least late 2018, but the parties’ versions of events diverge beyond that basic fact. Donald alleges Johnson’s advances were unwelcome and that he harassed her by, for example, asking her what color underwear she was wearing. Donald claims to have resisted some of Johnson’s advances, and on several occasions in 2018 verbally requested that he stop doing things like kissing her or asking her what color underwear she was wearing. Many times, however, Donald acknowledges that she acquiesced to his sexual advances and engaged

with him in friendly and affectionate ways.

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Donald v. City of Chicago, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donald-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-2024.