Gonzalez-Santos v. Torres-Maldonado

839 F. Supp. 2d 488, 2012 WL 843620, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34443
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 14, 2012
DocketCivil No. 09-1850 (FAB)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 839 F. Supp. 2d 488 (Gonzalez-Santos v. Torres-Maldonado) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Gonzalez-Santos v. Torres-Maldonado, 839 F. Supp. 2d 488, 2012 WL 843620, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34443 (prd 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER1

BESOSA, District Judge.

Before the Court is the Report and Recommendation (“R & R”), (Docket No. 258), regarding plaintiffs’ and defendants’ cross motions for summary judgment (Docket Nos. 97, 154, and 202) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Having considered the magistrate judge’s recommendations, defendants’ objections and response to plaintiffs’ objections (Docket Nos. 262 & 267), and plaintiffs’ objections (Docket No. 263), the Court ADOPTS the R & R as the opinion of the Court.

DISCUSSION

I. Background

A. Procedural Background

Plaintiffs Rosa Angela Gonzalez-Santos (“Gonzalez”) and Brenda Lugo-Caraballo (“Lugo”) (collectively, “plaintiffs”) brought a workplace sexual harassment and retaliation action against defendants Instituto Medico del Norte, Inc., d/b/a Hospital Wilma N. Vazquez (“the Hospital”), Angel Torres-Maldonado (“Torres”) and his conjugal partnership, Luis Cruz-Martinez (“Cruz”) and his conjugal partnership, Aymette Garcia (“Garcia”) and her conjugal partnership, Jose Pabon-Quiñones (“Pabon”) and his conjugal partnership, Eduarda Pabon, Enrique Vazquez, Liberty Mutual Insurance Corp. (“Liberty”), (collectively, “Hospital defendants”), and Chartis Insurance Company-Puerto Rico (“Chartis”), formerly known as American International Insurance Company. (Docket Nos. 258, p. 1 & 108.) The plaintiffs sued the defendants pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and assorted Puerto Rico laws. (Docket Nos. 108 & 258, p. 1.)

[491]*491On December 21, 2010, defendants filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6). (Docket No. 64.) Subsequent to that filing, plaintiffs filed their fifth amended complaint on March 31, 2011. (Docket No. 108.) Pursuant to a referral order issued by the Court, Magistrate Judge McGiverin filed an R & R which GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART the defendants’ motion to dismiss. (See Docket Nos. 39 & 203.) On September 28, 2011, this Court ADOPTED IN PART and REJECTED IN PART the magistrate judge’s findings. 814 F.Supp.2d 73, 90 (D.P.R.2011). The following claims remained: 1) Lugo’s Title VII retaliation claims, 2) Lugo’s Law 115 retaliation claims, 3) Gonzalez’s Title VII claims, 4) Gonzalez’s claims under Puerto Rico Law, and 5) Gonzalez’s Law 115 retaliation claims. Id.

While the motion to dismiss was still pending, plaintiffs, the Hospital defendants, and Chartis each filed motions for summary judgment. (Docket Nos. 97,154, and 202.) Oppositions have been filed for each motion. (Docket Nos. 118, 156, 196, and 214.) On January 20, 2012, pursuant to a referral order issued by the Court, Magistrate Judge McGiverin filed an R & R, recommending that defendant Chartis’s motion for summary judgment be GRANTED, plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment be DENIED, and the Hospital defendants’ motion for summary judgment be GRANTED IN PART. (Docket No. 258.)

On February 9, 2012, the Hospital defendants filed an objection to the R & R. (Docket No. 262.) The plaintiffs filed their own objection on February 10, 2012. (Docket No. 263.) Subsequently, the Hospital defendants filed a reply to the plaintiffs’ objections on February 23, 2012. (Docket No. 267.) On February 28, 2012, the Hospital defendants filed a motion to join their objection to the R & R and the reply to plaintiffs’ objections. (Docket No. 268.) The Court granted the motion for joinder on February 29, 2012. (Docket No. 269.)

B. Factual Background

1. Gonzalez’s First Complaint

Plaintiff Gonzalez began working for the Hospital as an Office Clerk in the Imaging Center on August 12, 2002. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 3 & 154-1, 2.) On August 13, 2002, Gonzalez received and signed the Hospital’s sexual harassment policy. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 1 & 154-1, 3.) The policy provided a procedure for filing, investigating, and resolving sexual harassment complaints. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 2 & 154-1, 4.) In October 2006, defendant Torres began working at the Hospital as the Director of the Imaging Center. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 4 & 154-1, 5.) After just a month of employment, Gonzalez alleges the first incidents of harassment occurred. (Docket Nos. 97-16, pp. 1-2 & 154-1, 6.) Gonzalez claims that on separate occasions around November 16, 2006, Torres called her to his office to perform work and then he 1) asked her to dance, 2) inquired if she was happily married, 3) said they could escape together, 4) asked if she was going to wear shorts to the company baseball game, and 5) said he wanted to kiss her. (Docket Nos. 97-16, pp. 1-2 & 154-1, 6.) On November 22, 2006, Gonzalez told Cruz, the Supervisor of the Radiology Department, about the alleged incident with Torres and informed him that she had written down an account of the event. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 5 & 154-1, 9.) On November 30, 2006, Human Resources (“HR”) Manager Garcia met with Cruz after she heard of rumors about a situation involving Torres and a female employee. (Docket Nos. 97-1,13 & 154-1,10.) Also on that day, following the meeting with Cruz, Garcia met individually [492]*492with Torres and Gonzalez. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 14, 15 & 154-1, 11, 14.) On November 30, 2006, Gonzalez filed a sexual harassment complaint against Torres on a form provided by the hospital — a “Report of Inappropriate Harassment.” (Docket Nos. 97-1, 6 & 154-1, 12.) On December 1, 2006, Gonzalez submitted a detailed written account of her allegations to Garcia. (Docket No. 154-1, 15, 16.) Gonzalez remained in the same department with Torres after the investigation was concluded. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 18 & 154-1, 26.)

2. Gonzalez’s Second Complaint

On April 8, 2008, Gonzalez sent the HR department a memorandum alleging incidents of harassment and retaliation that had occurred since her initial complaint in November 2006. (Docket Nos. 97-1, 22 & 154-1, 41.) In the memorandum, Gonzalez claimed that Torres would shout, use improper gestures, and act in an aggressive manner when assigning her work. (Docket No. 97-29, p. 1.) She also complained that she received written and verbal warnings for mistakes which were not hers. Id. Gonzalez alleged that three specific incidents of improper behavior had occurred on February 12, 2008, February 19, 2008, and March 4, 2008. (Docket No. 154-1, 41.) The HR department conducted an investigation into all three of the alleged events. Id. at 42. Gonzalez claimed that on the February dates she was unfairly singled out and disciplined by Torres. (Docket No. 97-29, p. 1.) The investigation revealed that the February 12, 2008 allegation was in reference to a memorandum that was addressed to the entire department and not just to Gonzalez. (Docket No. 154-1, 43.) The HR department could not find evidence of the February 19, 2008 incident. Id. at 44.

The March 4, 2008 incident allegedly occurred while Gonzalez underwent a pituitary MRI. Id. at 45.

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839 F. Supp. 2d 488, 2012 WL 843620, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzalez-santos-v-torres-maldonado-prd-2012.