Dooley v. Henry Ford Hospital

916 F. Supp. 666, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2545, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,077, 1996 WL 96687
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 28, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 94-40515
StatusPublished

This text of 916 F. Supp. 666 (Dooley v. Henry Ford Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dooley v. Henry Ford Hospital, 916 F. Supp. 666, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2545, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,077, 1996 WL 96687 (E.D. Mich. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

GADOLA, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings suit alleging that she was fired because of her race, in violation of Title VII. Defendant now moves for summary judgment, arguing that plaintiff has failed to make a prima facie showing of discrimination and has failed to rebut defendant’s evidence that plaintiff was legitimately fired for threatening other employees. Pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(e)(2), this court will dispense with oral argument and decide this motion on the papers submitted. For the following reasons, this court will grant defendant’s motion.

I. Factual Background

In 1992, plaintiff was employed as a nurse’s assistant at defendant hospital. In June 1992 plaintiff began having difficulties with co-workers. A series of disputes between plaintiff and defendant resulted from these difficulties, culminating in plaintiff’s termination by defendant on September 30, 1992.

[668]*668On June 20,1992, plaintiff was unexpectedly reassigned by Michelle Grijalva, a floor nurse, due to a shortage of nursing staff. Plaintiff, admittedly angry at not being consulted prior to the reassignment, questioned Ms. Grijalva about the reassignment. Ms. Grijalva allegedly waved her finger at plaintiff and asked, facetiously, if plaintiff would like to be in charge. Plaintiff responded that if Ms. Grijalva “disrespected” her again, she would take care of Ms. Grijalva the way she took care of people on the street. In deposition testimony, plaintiff admitted that this meant that plaintiff would “knock the hell out of’ Ms. Grijalva.

On June 23, 1992, plaintiff, having also been reassigned on June 21, 1992, sent a letter to Rebecca Rokicki, the Unit Nurse Administrative Manager, complaining of the reassignments, the lack of camaraderie on plaintiffs floor of the hospital, and Ms. Gri-jalva’s patient care. The letter hints that Ms. Grijalva may treat African-American patients worse than Caucasian patients. In response to this letter, Ms. Rokicki met with plaintiff and said that she would' schedule a staff meeting at which these issues could be addressed. The meeting was never scheduled. Plaintiff does not allege that Ms. Rok-icki treated African-Americans differently than Caucasians.

The next troublesome incident for plaintiff occurred on June 26, 1992. Plaintiff was not scheduled to work that day, but had spoken with another nurse’s assistant, Kecia Henderson, while Ms. Henderson was at work. Ms. Henderson told plaintiff that a nurse, Rena Sheehan, had incorrectly accused Ms. Henderson of substandard performance. It was plaintiff, not Ms. Henderson, who had worked with Ms. Shee-han on the date in question. In order to straighten out this confusion, against Ms. Henderson’s wishes, plaintiff went to the hospital. Plaintiff admits to having had two cups of beer before arriving at the hospital and feeling slightly paranoid because of the criticism of her work. Plaintiff denies being loud, threatening, or acting unprofessionally while at the hospital. Several other nurses, however, reported to Rachel Hoffman, the Associate Administrator of Medical/Medical Specialty Units, that plaintiff was inappropriately loud and threatening in a patient care area when she arrived at the hospital on June 26.

Ms. Hoffman’s first contact with plaintiff occurred on June 29, 1992, at a disciplinary meeting stemming from the incident on June 26. Ms. Hoffman, having completed her investigation of the incident, determined that plaintiff had acted inappropriately and suspended her for two days. Further, Ms. Hoffman referred plaintiff to the Employee Assistance Program for counseling. Plaintiff asserts that she felt that she was being discriminated against at this meeting, but cannot articulate any particular reason for these feelings. Plaintiff filed a grievance with respect to the suspension, arguing that she had not acted unprofessionally.

On August 1,1992, plaintiff took a medical leave of absence from defendant hospital.1 On that date, plaintiff spoke with a psychiatrist at defendant hospital. According to the psychiatrist’s records, plaintiff had threatened to kill Ms. Hoffman during this conversation. In deposition testimony, plaintiff states that she doesn’t remember making that comment, but that, in anger, she might have. On August 5, 1992, plaintiff checked herself into a psychiatric hospital. Shortly thereafter, against medical advice, plaintiff left the hospital.

On September 11, 1992, Sandra Nagy, a nurse, reported that plaintiff had called the hospital unit at which plaintiff worked and threatened to kill Ms. Grijalva and another nurse, Ms. Fox, who was one of the nurses who reported the incident on June 26, 1992 to Ms. Hoffman.2 Plaintiff denies ever making this phone call.

As a result of this, and the other alleged incidents, plaintiff was terminated on September 30, 1992. Plaintiff filed a grievance concerning her termination. This grievance [669]*669wound its way through the entire procedure created by the hospital to handle such grievances. This procedure ended when the grievance council, a body comprised of non-supervisory hospital employees, voted 8-3 to uphold the termination. Subsequently, plaintiff filed a charge with the EEOC, and eventually, this suit.

II. Standard of Review

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment may be granted “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” “A fact is ‘material’ and precludes grant of summary judgment if proof of that fact would have [the] effect of establishing or refuting one of the essential elements of the cause of action or defense asserted by the parties, and would necessarily affect [the] application of appropriate principled] of law to the rights and obligations of the parties.” Kendall v. Hoover Co., 751 F.2d 171, 174 (6th Cir.1984) (citation omitted). The court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmovant as well as draw all reasonable inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. See United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 993-94, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962); Bender v. Southland Corp., 749 F.2d 1205, 1210-11 (6th Cir.1984).

The movant bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of all genuine issues of material fact. See Gregg v. Allen-Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 861 (6th Cir.1986). This burden “may be discharged by ‘showing’— that is, pointing out to the district court— that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

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916 F. Supp. 666, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2545, 68 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 44,077, 1996 WL 96687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dooley-v-henry-ford-hospital-mied-1996.