Lindsay-Felton v. FQSR, LLC

352 F. Supp. 3d 597
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedNovember 7, 2018
DocketCivil No. 2:17cv559
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 352 F. Supp. 3d 597 (Lindsay-Felton v. FQSR, LLC) 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
Lindsay-Felton v. FQSR, LLC, 352 F. Supp. 3d 597 (E.D. Va. 2018).

Opinion

Mark S. Davis, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on a motion for summary judgment filed by defendant FQSR, LCC, d/b/a KBP Foods, ("Defendant," or "KBP"). ECF No. 31. After examining the briefs and record, the Court finds that oral argument is unnecessary because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented, and oral argument would not aid in the decisional process. Fed. R. Civ. P. 78(b) ; E.D. Va. Loc. R. 7(J). For the reasons set forth below, Defendant's motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

I. Background

Plaintiff, Dena Lindsay-Felton ("Plaintiff") is a former KBP employee/store-manager who resigned from her employment on September 20, 2016, based on what she characterizes as a hostile work environment and discrimination based on her race (African-American). During the period immediately prior to her resignation, Plaintiff was a manager of a KBP restaurant, and her supervisor, Susheel "Shue" Kumar ("Shue"), was a KBP "Area Coach" responsible for overseeing multiple restaurant locations. During her deposition, Plaintiff testified that her relationship with Shue began to break down during the last several months of her employment, beginning with a disagreement over inventory numbers because Plaintiff would not falsify records as Shue purportedly directed. From that point forward, Shue repeatedly yelled at Plaintiff, demeaned her in front of her store employees, pointed his finger in her face on at least one occasion, and engaged in other harassment that Plaintiff asserts ultimately caused her to resign. Shue also engaged in behavior that Plaintiff asserts demonstrates a link between her race and Shue's harassment. Now at issue on summary judgment are Plaintiff's race-based hostile work environment claim, constructive discharge claim, and retaliation claim advanced under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

*600II. Standard of Review

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that a district court shall grant summary judgment in favor of a movant if such party "shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties "will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

If a movant has properly advanced evidence supporting entry of summary judgment, the non-moving party may not rest upon the mere allegations of the pleadings, but instead must set forth specific facts in the form of exhibits and sworn statements illustrating a genuine issue for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). "A genuine question of material fact exists where, after reviewing the record as a whole, a court finds that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Dulaney v. Packaging Corp. of Am., 673 F.3d 323, 330 (4th Cir. 2012) (citation omitted). "Because 'credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge,' " the Court must only evaluate the evidence to the extent necessary to determine whether there is " 'sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether [the evidence] is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." McAirlaids, Inc. v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 756 F.3d 307, 310 (4th Cir. 2014) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505 ). In making such determination, "the district court must 'view the evidence in the light most favorable to the' nonmoving party." Jacobs v. N.C. Admin. Office of the Courts, 780 F.3d 562, 568 (4th Cir. 2015) (quoting Tolan v. Cotton, 572 U.S. 650, 657, 134 S.Ct. 1861, 188 L.Ed.2d 895 (2014) ).

III. Discussion

A review of Defendant's filings and exhibits, as well as Plaintiff's opposition brief and exhibits, demonstrates the validity behind Defendant's assertions that: (1) Plaintiff does not challenge the vast majority of the facts contained in Defendant's statement of "Undisputed Facts"; and (2) Plaintiff's opposition brief relies on citations to deposition excerpts that were not provided to the Court, thus requiring the Court to disregard the bulk of Plaintiff's supplemental factual allegations because they lack evidentiary support. That said, the Court disagrees with Defendant's characterization of affidavits submitted by Plaintiff as being based solely on inadmissible hearsay rather than on first-hand knowledge.1 The Court also notes that, when construed in Plaintiff's favor, the transcript excerpts from Plaintiff's own deposition that are before the Court lend support to Plaintiff's hostile work environment claim.

A. Hostile Work Environment

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Bluebook (online)
352 F. Supp. 3d 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lindsay-felton-v-fqsr-llc-vaed-2018.