Evans v. Larchmont Baptist Church Infant Care Center, Inc.

956 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2013 WL 3458203, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95510
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJuly 8, 2013
DocketCase No. 2:11-cv-306
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 956 F. Supp. 2d 695 (Evans v. Larchmont Baptist Church Infant Care Center, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. Larchmont Baptist Church Infant Care Center, Inc., 956 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2013 WL 3458203, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95510 (E.D. Va. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND FINAL ORDER

LAWRENCE R. LEONARD, United States Magistrate Judge. ,

This case has been referred to the undersigned U.S. Magistrate Judge. on the parties’ consent pursuant to 28' Ü.S.C. § 636(c) and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 73. Before the Court is the pro se Plaintiffs, Nicole D. Evans (“Evans”), Motion for Default Judgment, ECF No. 72, and Kim Carmi’s (“Carmi”) “Request[s] to Cancel the Request of Default Judgment,’’ ECF Nos. 70-71, which, although docketed as Motions, the Court construes, collectively, as a brief in opposition to Evans’s Motion. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS, with exceptions, Evans’s Motion for Default' Judgmént and DENIES as MOOT Carmi’s Motions.

[700]*700I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Defendant, Larchmont Baptist Church Infant Care Center, Inc. (“Larchmont”), was a day care center where Evans was employed as a full-time Lead Teacher in the Infant Room beginning September 2006. On July 8, 2009, Larchmont terminated one of Evans’s co-workers, who subsequently filed an age and disability discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) on July 16, 2009. The terminated co-worker also filed a claim for benefits with the Virginia Employment Commission. On July 24 and 29, 2009, in "connection with these filings, Car-mi, Larchmont’s Director, purportedly asked Evans for a written statement confirming she had witnessed the terminated co-worker sleeping on the job. Evans refused. Carmi made the same request to two other co-workers, who complied.

On July 31, 2009, Carmi distributed a survey to the staff concerning Larchmont’s policy against sleeping on the job. Evans did not complete the survey and on August 3, 2009, wrote a letter to the EEOC stating her co-worker had been wrongfully terminated, that Carmi “forced/requested [ ] staff [ ] to complete a survey ... and submit statements that [her co-worker] was sleeping on the job,” and that there had been uo formal discussions at Larchmont regarding sleeping on the job. ECF No. 33, attach. 4. On August 7, 2009, Car-mi reassigned Evans to the Toddler II Room as an Assistant Teacher,1 and a memorandum reflecting this reassignment was posted in the workplace on August 12, 2009. Although Evans’s wages were not reduced, her weekly work hours decreased from forty to approximately thirty-two hours per week, thereby reducing her weekly pay. She also began receiving written reprimands, which she had not received prior to her reassignment.

Evans filed her first retaliation charge with the EEOC on August 17, 2009, after which she was reassigned as the Lead Teacher in the Transition Room.2 Nine- and-one-half months later, on June 3, 2010, Larchmont terminated Evans. She alleges her termination was Larchmont’s final retaliatory act related to her conduct surrounding her co-worker’s termination in 2009. See id. at 4 (“For thirteen (13) months Plaintiff was subject to deliberate and malic[ious] retaliation for failure to write a false statement.”). Evans filed her second charge with the EEOC on July 15, 2010, claiming she had been subjected to a hostile work environment and discharged in retaliation for participating in protected activity under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).

The EEOC issued its Determination as to the first charge on August 26, 2010, finding Larchmont to be an employer within the meaning of the ADA and that

[t]he evidence reveal[ed] there [was] sufficient cause to believe the Respondent retaliated against the Charging Party by initially demoting her from Lead Teacher in Infants to Assistant in Toddlers and then reassigning her to the Transition Room. The evidence also revealfed] that the Charging Party was further retaliated against in being issued a Record of Discussion which had not been issued to anyone previously. This action [701]*701[was] in violation of the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, Section 503.

ECF No. 41, attach. 4. Attached to the EEOC’s Determination was a proposed Conciliation Agreement, which proved unsuccessful. The EEOC then issued Evans a Notice of Right to Sue letter on March 18, 2011, on her first, not second, retaliation charge.3

Evans timely filed a one-page Complaint on June 9, 2011, against Larchmont, Car-mi, and Laura Reed (“Reed”), Chairwoman of Larchmont’s Board of Directors, alleging retaliation under the ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12203, as amended, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3, as amended. On January 17, 2012, Larchmont and Reed moved to dismiss the Complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failing to state a claim. Carmi followed suit on January 19, 2012, by filing the same motion on the same grounds.

On February 23, 2012, the Court, sua sponte, directed Evans to show cause why the Complaint should not be dismissed with prejudice as to Carmi and Reed. She responded on March 2, 2012. Before then, on February 29, 2012, 2012 WL 699529, the Court granted Larchmont’s motion to dismiss the Complaint for failing to state a claim but also granted Evans leave to file an amended complaint.4 Evans filed an Amended Complaint with exhibits on March 19, 2012. Two days later, on March 21, 2012, the Court ordered that Carmi and Reed be dismissed from the matter with prejudice because Evans failed to demonstrate that they were proper defendants under the ADA or Title VII. This leaves Larchmont as the sole Defendant. On May 1, 2012, Larchmont moved for summary judgment, which the Court denied on September 11, 2012, 2012 WL 3985442. A day later, on September 12, 2012, defense, counsel moved to withdraw from representation.

On September 28, 2012, the Court granted defense counsel’s motion to withdraw after it was made known that Larchmont’s corporate existence was terminated by the Virginia State Corporation Commission on June 30, 2012, for failure to maintain a registered agent. It was clear at that time that counsel’s continued representation of Larchmont, a defunct corporation with no assets and no personnel, would result in an unreasonable financial burden on counsel, and that the representation had been rendered unreasonably difficult by the client’s dissolution. The Court then ordered Evans, on October 11, 2012, to move for default judgment against Larchmont if it did not retain counsel by November 12, 2012. Larchment failed to retain counsel, the Clerk entered default against it on November 16, 2012, and Evans moved for default judgment on December 5, 2012.

II. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

“Under [28 U.S.C.] § 636(c), a magistrate judge may conduct any or all proceedings in a civil matter and order the entry of judgment in the case when, one, [702]*702the parties have consented and two, the district court has specially designated the magistrate judge to exercise such jurisdiction.” Neals v. Norwood, 59 F.3d 530, 532 (5th Cir.1995).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
956 F. Supp. 2d 695, 2013 WL 3458203, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-larchmont-baptist-church-infant-care-center-inc-vaed-2013.