Leggo v. M.C. DEAN, INC.

District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided February 7, 2023·No. 1:22-cv-00374·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Alexandria Division JONATHAN DAVID LEGGO, ) Plaintiff, v. 1:22-cv-374 (LMB/IDD) M.C. DEAN, INC., Defendant. MEMORANDUM OPINION Pending before the Court is defendant M.C. Dean, Inc.’s (“M.C. Dean” or “defendant”) Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint [Dkt. No. 33], to which pro se plaintiff Jonathan David Leggo (“Leggo” or “plaintiff’) has responded [Dkt. No. 36]. Finding that oral argument will not aid in the decisional process, the Court will resolve the motion on the papers. For the reasons that follow, defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint will be granted, and this civil action will be dismissed with prejudice. I. BACKGROUND Proceeding pro se, plaintiff Jonathan David Leggo (““Leggo” or “plaintiff”) filed a two- count Complaint alleging that his employer, M.C. Dean, violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by discriminating and retaliating against him on the basis of a perceived disability when he refused to comply with the M.C. Dean’s COVID-19 policy. [Dkt. No. 1]. After defendant filed a motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 17], plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint raising the same claims, which includes supplementary affidavits and numerous supporting documents. [Dkt. Nos, 26, 30].

Defendant has moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Rule 12(b)(6) requires a court to dismiss a complaint if it does not “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). Although allegations in a pro se complaint are construed liberally, a pro se complaint must still allege a plausible claim for relief. Thomas v. The Salvation Army S. Territory, 841 F.3d 632, 637 (4th Cir. 2016). The Amended Complaint is replete with plaintiff's opinions and commentary on the COVID-19 virus and pandemic, the federal government and private sector’s response to the pandemic, and the science surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, etc. To the extent plaintiffs characterizations are not supported by factual allegations or are irrelevant to his ADA claims, the Court disregards them as “unwarranted inferences, unreasonable conclusions, or arguments” that need not be accepted as true when evaluating a motion to dismiss. Nemet Chevrolet, Ltd. v. Consumeraffairs.com, Inc., 591 F.3d 250, 253 (4th Cir. 2009). Nor is the Court required to “accept as true allegations that contradict matters properly subject to judicial notice or by exhibit.” Veney v. Wyche, 293 F.3d 726, 730 (4th Cir. 2002). Moreover, “in the event of conflict between the bare allegations of the complaint and any exhibit attached . . . , the exhibit prevails.” Goines v. Valley Cmty. Servs. Bd., 822 F.3d 159, 166 (4th Cir. 2016) (internal quotations omitted). Under these principles, the Amended Complaint’s mischaracterization of communications and documents attached as exhibits will be disregarded. Having reviewed the Amended Complaint and its attachments, the following factual allegations form the essence of plaintiffs discrimination and retaliation claims. For 13 years, Leggo has been and is currently employed by M.C. Dean as an electrical superintendent,

overseeing commercial electrical installations for universities, federal agencies, military bases, and data centers and supervising other employees. [Dkt. No. 30] at 3. In August 2021, Leggo learned of M.C. Dean’s “new policy” regarding COVID-19, when M.C. Dean informed its employees that based on the CDC’s guidance, which recommended that masks should be worn indoors in communities classified as experiencing substantial or high transmission rates of COVID-19, as was the case in all of M.C. Dean’s office locations in the United States, masks would be required in facilities that M.C. Dean owned and operated. Id. at 3-4; [Dkt. No. 26-3] at 22. M.C. Dean also requested that employees complete a “Vaccine Tracking” survey to report their COVID-19 vaccination status to help the company “assess who can and cannot access certain customer sites” based on the customer’s vaccination requirements. {[Dkt. No. 26-3] at 22. Employees who declined to report their vaccination status could select “T choose not to disclose,” but they would be treated as unvaccinated, which could limit their project assignments depending on the customer’s vaccination requirements. Id.; [Dkt. No. 30] at 3-4. M.C. Dean also informed employees that some of its customers were requiring weekly confirmation of vaccination status or negative COVID-19 tests and provided a link to upload weekly test results for “teams on these sites.” [Dkt. No. 26-3] at 22. M.C. Dean clarified that this was a “customer-defined requirement and is unique to specific customer sites. This is not a requirement to access M.C. Dean facilities.” Id. On August 25, 2021, Leggo requested a religious exemption from “covid testing and vaccines.” Id. at 4, 15-20. On September 7, 2021, Misty Miran (“Miran”), a human resources employee, responded to Leggo’s request and expressed that “it is our understanding that the job site you are currently assigned to does not require you to be vaccinated, nor does it require a weekly COVID test,” but indicated that his request would be kept on file so it could be

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