Goldstine v. FedEx Freight, Inc.

District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided November 2, 2020·No. 2:18-cv-01164·Unknown

Opinion

1 THE HONORABLE MARSHA J. PECHMAN

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT SEATTLE

8 DAVID GOLDSTINE,

9 Plaintiff, Case No. 2:18-cv-01164-MJP 10 v. FOURTH AMENDED PRETRIAL 11 FEDEX FREIGHT, INC., ORDER

12 Defendant.

13 14 Pursuant to LCR 16(h)-(i), Plaintiff David Goldstine and Defendant FedEx Freight, 15 Inc. (hereinafter “FedEx Freight”)1 jointly submit this Proposed Pre-Trial Order. 16 I. JURISDICTION 17 Jurisdiction is vested in this Court by virtue of: This Court has subject matter 18 jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. § 1331, through which district courts have 19 jurisdiction over all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United 20 States. Plaintiff brings several claims against Defendant under the Americans with Disabilities 21 Act of 1990, § 2 et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (“ADA”). 22

23 1 By submitting this Pretrial Order, Defendant FedEx Freight does not waive any objections to the remote jury proceeding proposed by the Court. 1 Additionally, this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C. 2 § 1332. Complete diversity of citizenship exists between the parties: (a) Plaintiff David 3 Goldstine is a citizen of the United States and of the State of Washington; (b) Defendant FedEx 4 Freight is a corporation incorporated under the laws of Arkansas, with its principal place of 5 business in Arkansas. Defendant FedEx Freight is therefore a citizen of a foreign state.

6 Defendant disputes that Plaintiff is entitled to any damages. Plaintiff contends the amount in 7 controversy exceeds $75,000.00. 8 Alternatively, this Court has supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s state law claims 9 under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 because the state law claims are so closely related to the federal law 10 claims as to form the same case or controversy under Article III of the U.S. Constitution. 11 Plaintiff’s state law claims brought under the Washington Law Against Discrimination, RCW 12 49.60 et seq. (“WLAD”) and his claims brought under the ADA arise from a common nucleus 13 of operative fact. 14 This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendant FedEx Freight. Jurisdiction is

15 established because Defendant conducted business in the state of Washington, both generally 16 and particularly as it regards the acts and omissions at issue here, generating a sufficient nexus 17 between Defendant’s forum contacts and Plaintiff’s causes of action. 18 Venue is proper in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington, 19 under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2), because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise 20 to Plaintiff’s causes of action occurred within the Western District of Washington’s geographic 21 scope. 22 Defendant removed this case from the Superior Court of the State of Washington, 23 County of Snohomish to the Western District of Washington at Seattle. A substantial part of 1 the events from which Plaintiff’s causes of action arise occurred in Snohomish County, 2 Washington. As such, under LCR 3(e), Intradistrict Assignment to the Western District of 3 Washington at Seattle is proper. 4 II. CLAIMS AND DEFENSES 5 Plaintiff David Goldstine will pursue at trial the following claims:

6 1. Disability discrimination in violation of the WLAD; 7 2. Retaliation in violation of the WLAD; 8 3. Disability discrimination in violation of the ADA; and 9 4. Retaliation in violation of the ADA. 10 Defendant FedEx Freight will pursue the following affirmative defenses and/or claims: 11 1. Mr. Goldstine failed to mitigate his claimed damages. 12 III. ADMITTED FACTS 13 The following facts are admitted by the parties: 14 1. FedEx Freight employs more than 500 employees.

15 2. FedEx Freight provides less-than-truckload delivery choices to customers 16 shipping throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. FedEx Freight operates approximately 17 30,000 vehicles from a network of 373 freight service centers and has approximately 44,000 18 employees. 19 3. David Goldstine began working as a full-time Road Driver for FedEx Freight 20 on February 18, 2015. 21 4. He typically drove roundtrip between Washington and Oregon on the graveyard 22 shift. 23 1 5. FedEx Freight is an interstate federal motor carrier regulated by the Federal 2 Motor Carrier Safety Act (FMCSA), 49 C.F.R. §300 et seq. 3 6. Commercial truck drivers must be qualified to operate a commercial vehicle in 4 accordance with the physical-qualification standards of the FMCSA. 5 7. Defendant FedEx Freight did nothing to cause or exacerbate any medical

6 condition of Mr. Goldstine. 7 8. On July 25, 2017, FedEx Freight authorized Mr. Goldstine to return to work. 8 9. Mr. Goldstine learned on August 3, 2017 that FedEx Freight had authorized 9 him to return to work. 10 III.A. PLAINTIFF’S ADDITIONAL PROPOSED FACTS2 11 10. FedEx Freight earned approximately $7.1 billion in annual revenue in 2020. 12 John A. Smith is the President and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Freight, which is based 13 in Memphis, Tennessee. ADMISSIBILITY DISPUTED BY FEDEX FREIGHT. 14 11. The company is a subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation, a parent holding

15 company that provides strategic direction to the FedEx portfolio of companies, which also 16 includes FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, and FedEx Services. ADMISSIBILITY DISPUTED 17 BY FEDEX FREIGHT. 18 IV. ISSUES OF LAW 19 Plaintiff asserts the following issues of law to be determined by the Court: 20 21 2 Defendant objects to Plaintiff’s inclusion of “additional proposed facts” which Plaintiff gleaned from the internet 22 and which were not a topic of discovery; relate to information about Defendant’s parent and affiliate companies, apparently in an effort to seek to pierce the corporate veil of Defendant to try to admit into this trial information 23 about a different company involving a different lawsuit; attempt to unfairly prejudice Defendant based on such information; and the topics of which are the subject of a pending motion in limine. 1 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law No. 1: Does the FMCSA require a driver to be able to lower 2 a disabled trailer door? 3 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law No. 2: Does the FMCSA require a driver to be able to climb 4 into the back of a semi-trailer unassisted? 5 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law No. 3: Does the FMCSA require a carrier to disqualify a driver

6 upon disclosure of a pre-existing disability when the disability does not impair the driver’s 7 ability to perform his normal duties and when his current medical certificate has not expired? 8 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law Nos. 4 and 5: Does the FMCSA require a carrier to exercise 9 good faith and/or obtain a professional medical opinion before rejecting a medical certification 10 on the basis that it is “falsified” or “incomplete?” 11 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law No. 6: Does the FMCSA permit a person who is not a medical 12 examiner and has no personal knowledge of a driver's health conditions to determine that the 13 driver is not medically qualified under FMCSA standards? 14 Plaintiff’s Issue of Law Nos. 7 & 8. Whether Defendant discriminated against

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Goldstine v. FedEx Freight, Inc., (W.D. Wash. 2020).

Goldstine v. FedEx Freight, Inc. (Goldstine v. FedEx Freight, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Hayes v. Trulock
755 P.2d 830 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1988)
Johnson v. Weyerhaeuser Co.
953 P.2d 800 (Washington Supreme Court, 1998)
Johnson v. Weyerhaeuser Co.
134 Wash. 2d 795 (Washington Supreme Court, 1998)