Jennifer Schrof v. Clean Earth, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedNovember 3, 2025
Docket1:22-cv-01533
StatusUnknown

This text of Jennifer Schrof v. Clean Earth, Inc. (Jennifer Schrof v. Clean Earth, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennifer Schrof v. Clean Earth, Inc., (D. Md. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

JENNIFER SCHROF, *

Plaintiff, *

v. * Civil No. 1:22-1533-CDA

CLEAN EARTH, INC., *

Defendant. *

* * *

MEMORANDUM OPINION THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff Jennifer Schrof’s (“Plaintiff’s”) Motion for Reconsideration (ECF 121). The Motion is ripe for disposition, and no hearing is necessary. See Local Rule 105.6 (D. Md. 2025). For the reasons stated below, the Court DENIES the Motion for Reconsideration. I. BACKGROUND The factual and procedural background of this case appears in detail in the Court’s March 31, 2025 Memorandum Opinion. See ECF 116 (the “Court’s Memorandum Opinion”). Relevant here, Plaintiff departed her approximately 15-year employment at Defendant Clean Earth (“Clean Earth” or “Defendant”), alleging Clean Earth subjected her to intolerable conditions and constructively discharged her. Id. at 1, 14. Plaintiff commenced this civil suit on June 22, 2022, asserting four causes of action against Defendant based on alleged violations of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. ECF 1. On September 22, 2022, Plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint, bringing four counts: (1) sex discrimination in violation of the Maryland Fair Employment Practice Act (“MFEPA”), Md. Code Ann., State Gov’t § 20-606; (2) wage discrimination in violation of the Maryland Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (“MEPA”), Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. § 3-301; (3) retaliation in violation of the MFEPA, § 20-606(f); and (4) constructive discharge in violation of the MFEPA, § 20-606(a)(1)(i). ECF 29, at 7-10. On June 1, 2023, Judge Beth P. Gesner granted in part the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and dismissed the constructive discharge claim (Count IV), because that is not a

standalone cause of action, and denied the motion as to Counts I through III. ECFs 41, 42. On March 31, 2025, the undersigned granted in part and denied in part Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. ECFs 116, 117. The Court granted Defendant’s Motion as to Count I, sex discrimination, and Count II, wage discrimination. Id. The Court denied the Motion as to Count III, thus leaving Plaintiff’s retaliation claim (Count III) as the sole remaining basis for relief. Id. On April 11, 2025, Plaintiff filed her Motion to Reconsider the Court’s rulings on summary judgment. ECF 121, 122, Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider (“Pl.’s Mot. Recon.”). Defendant filed an Opposition on April 24, 2025, and Plaintiff filed her reply on May 8, 2025. See ECF 129, Defendant’s Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider (“Def.’s Opp’n”), ECF 130, Plaintiff’s Reply. The briefing now being complete and timely filed, the

Motion to Reconsider is ripe for resolution. ECF 121. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide three routes by which a party may seek reconsideration of a court order: Rules 54(b), 59(e), and 60(b). Rule 54(b) governs motions to reconsider interlocutory orders. See Fayetteville Invs. v. Com. Builders, Inc., 936 F.2d 1462, 1469-70 (4th Cir. 1991). Rules 59(e) and 60(b) govern motions to reconsider final judgments. Id. Rule 59(e) controls when a party files a motion to alter or amend within twenty-eight days of the final judgment. Bolden v. McCabe, Weisberg & Conway, LLC, No. DKC-13-1265, 2014 WL 994066, at *1 n.1 (D. Md. Mar. 13, 2014). If a party files the motion later, Rule 60(b) controls. Id. Here, Plaintiff moved for reconsideration of the Court’s Memorandum Opinion granting in part and denying in part Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Accordingly, although Plaintiff cites only Rule 59(e) in her Motion, see Pl.’s Mot. Recon., at 2-3, Rule 54(b) applies here.

Rule 54(b) provides that “any order or other decision, however designated, that adjudicat[ed] fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties . . . may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicat[ed] all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). The Fourth Circuit has not articulated a standard of review for a Rule 54(b) motion. See In re Marriott Int’l, Inc., No. PWG-19-2879, 2021 WL 1516028, at *2 (D. Md. Apr. 16, 2021). Although the Fourth Circuit has explained that “the restrictive standards of Rule 59(e) and Rule 60(b) motions for reconsideration are not binding for Rule 54(b) motions,” courts often turn to those standards for guidance. Id. (citing Fayetteville Invs., 936 F.2d at 1472); see e.g., Carrero v. Farrelly, 310 F. Supp. 3d 581, 583-84 (D. Md. 2018) (looking to Rule 59(e) and Rule 60(b) standards); Wade v. Corr. Ofc. Christopher Cavins, No. PWG-17-3693,

2019 WL 2410969, at *1-2 (D. Md. June 7, 2019) (same). A motion for reconsideration under Rule 59(e) “is discretionary” and therefore “need not be granted unless the district court finds that there has been an intervening change of controlling law, that new evidence has become available, or that there is a need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.” Robinson v. Wix Filtration Corp. LLC, 599 F.3d 403, 411 (4th Cir. 2010). Rule 60(b), on the other hand, may offer relief if a party shows: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) newly discovered evidence that, with reasonable diligence, could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59(b); (3) fraud (whether previously called intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or misconduct by an opposing party; (4) the judgment is void; (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged; it is based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or applying it prospectively is no longer equitable; or (6) any other reason that justifies relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b). Under Rule 54(b), “the goal is to reach the correct judgment under law.” In re Marriott Int’l, Inc., 2021 WL 1516028, at *3 (quoting Lynn v. Monarch Recovery Mgmt., Inc., 953 F. Supp. 2d 612, 618-19 (D. Md. 2013)). However, “a motion for reconsideration under Rule 54(b) may not be used merely to reiterate arguments previously rejected by the Court.” Id. (quoting Cezair v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. DKC-13-2928, 2014 WL 4955535, at *1 (D. Md. Sept. 30, 2014)). That is, it is “not a license to reargue the merits.” Id. (quoting Carrero, 310 F. Supp. 3d at 583-84). As such, a litigant’s “mere disagreement” with a ruling is not enough to justify reconsideration. Lynn, 953 F. Supp. 2d at 620. Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider rests on the third criteria under Rule 59(e): to correct a clear error or to prevent manifest injustice. See generally Pl.’s Mot. Recon., at 3-14. Motions for reconsideration are “an extraordinary remedy which should be used sparingly.” TFWS, Inc. v. Franchot, 572 F.3d 186, 194 (4th Cir. 2009). Put more colorfully, “[w]here a party seeks reconsideration on the basis of manifest error, the earlier decision cannot be ‘just maybe or probably wrong; it must . . . strike us as wrong with the force of a five-week old, unrefrigerated dead fish.” Siple v. First Franklin Fin.

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