Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Universal Brixius, LLC

264 F.R.D. 514, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96183, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1177
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedOctober 15, 2009
DocketNo. 09-C-774
StatusPublished

This text of 264 F.R.D. 514 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Universal Brixius, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Universal Brixius, LLC, 264 F.R.D. 514, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96183, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1177 (E.D. Wis. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

AARON E. GOODSTEIN, United States Magistrate Judge.

On August 11, 2009 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) filed a complaint alleging that Universal Brixius, LLC violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting Jeanne Johnston (“Johnston”) to disparate terms and conditions of employment and a hostile environment based upon her sex, and terminated her because of her sex. (Docket No. 1.) The following day, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint where the plaintiff corrected an apparent typo regarding the identity of the victim of this alleged discrimination [515]*515and additionally sought the plaintiffs costs of the action. (Docket No. 2.)

Rather than filing an answer, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Docket Nos. 8, 9.) The plaintiff has responded, (Docket No. 13), and the defendant has replied, (Docket No. 14). The pleadings on the defendant’s motion to dismiss are closed and the matter is ready for resolution. The parties have previously consented to the full jurisdiction of a magistrate judge. (Docket No. 11.)

A civil complaint need contain only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). “The Rule reflects a liberal notice pleading regime, which is intended to ‘focus litigation on the merits of a claim’ rather than on technicalities that might keep plaintiffs out of court.” Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574 (7th Cir.2009) (quoting Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 514, 122 S.Ct. 992, 152 L.Ed.2d 1 (2002)).

Recently, the Supreme Court has addressed the question of just how short and plain that statement may be. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, — U.S. —, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009); Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (per curiam); Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Seventh Circuit synthesized the recent holdings of the Court regarding the pleading standard set forth in Rule 8(a)(2) and stated:

First, a plaintiff must provide notice to defendants of her claims. Second, courts must accept a plaintiffs factual allegations as true, but some factual allegations will be so sketchy or implausible that they fail to provide sufficient notice to defendants of the plaintiffs claim. Third, in considering the plaintiffs factual allegations, courts should not accept as adequate abstract recitations of the elements of a cause of action or conclusory legal statements.

Brooks, 578 F.3d 574, 581.

Although detailed factual allegations are not required, Rule 8 “demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face. A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. The plausibility standard is not akin to a probability requirement, but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. Where a complaint pleads facts that are merely consistent with a defendant’s liability, it stops short of the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.

Id. at 1949 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 557, 570) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief will ... be a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense. But where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged— but it has not shown — that the pleader is entitled to relief.

Id. at 1950 (internal citations, brackets, and quotation marks omitted). A complaint is not insufficient merely because “it strikes a savvy judge that actual proof of those facts is improbable, and that a recovery is very remote and unlikely.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal quotation marks omitted).

The defendant contends that the EEOC merely offers a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action, and the complaint is devoid of any factual context sufficient to demonstrate anything more than a mere possibility that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. Thus, the defendant contends, the complaint is insufficient.

The plaintiff responds that it has satisfied the requisite pleading standard because it has presented a claim of employment discrimination that is plausible on its face. Fur[516]*516ther, it contends that in an employment discrimination case such as this, the standard by which the sufficiency of the pleadings must be judged is found in Swierkiewicz, 534 U.S. 506, 122 S.Ct. 992, 152 L.Ed.2d 1.

In Swierkiewicz, the Court rejected the requirement that a plaintiffs complaint must set forth a prima facie case of sex discrimination in order to be sufficient under Rule 8(a)(2). Id. at 515, 122 S.Ct. 992. But the Court also did not hold that a boilerplate recitation of the elements of sex discrimination claim would be sufficient to state a claim. The Court noted that the plaintiffs complaint

easily satisfie[d] the requirements of Rule 8(a) because it gives respondent fair notice of the basis for petitioner’s claims. Petitioner alleged that he had been terminated on account of his national origin in violation of Title VII and on account of his age in violation of the ADEA. His complaint detailed the events leading to his termination, provided relevant dates, and included the ages and nationalities of at least some of the relevant persons involved with his termination.

Id. at 514, 122 S.Ct. 992 (internal citations omitted). The Court in Twombly affirmed Swierkiewicz as good law and rejected the contention that the standard it was articulating in Twombly was inconsistent with Swier-kiewicz. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 569-70, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

The substantive portion of the complaint states, in its entirety, as follows:

6. More than thirty days prior to the institution of this lawsuit, Jeanne Johnston (“Johnston”) filed a charge with the Commission alleging violations of Title VII by Universal Brixius. All conditions precedent to the institution of this lawsuit have been fulfilled.

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Related

Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.
534 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Erickson v. Pardus
551 U.S. 89 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Brooks v. Ross
578 F.3d 574 (Seventh Circuit, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
264 F.R.D. 514, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96183, 107 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-universal-brixius-llc-wied-2009.