Madison v. St. Joseph Hospital

949 F. Supp. 953, 5 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1840, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18781
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedAugust 28, 1996
Docket1:98-adr-00025
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 949 F. Supp. 953 (Madison v. St. Joseph Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Madison v. St. Joseph Hospital, 949 F. Supp. 953, 5 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1840, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18781 (D.N.H. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

DEVINE, Senior District Judge.

In this civil action, plaintiff Pamela Madison alleges a federal claim of employment discrimination based on disability in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990(ADA), Pub.L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 327 (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.), against defendant St. Joseph Hospital. Plaintiff brings additional state law claims for wrongful termination and enhanced compensatory damages.

Presently before the court is defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P. Both parties have, with leave of the court, 1 filed reply memoranda.

Background 2

Plaintiff Pamela Madison was employed as a charge nurse with St. Joseph Hospital from June 1992 until she was discharged in July 1993. Amended Affidavit of Pamela Madison ¶ 1. In her Charge of Discrimination filed with the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights (NHCHR), Madison alleges she was discharged on July 2, 1993. 3 See April 29, 1994, Charge of Discrimination (attached to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss).

On July 2, 1993, Madison received a telephone call from Jean Montana, who, on behalf of the hospital, informed plaintiff that she was no longer employed with St. Joseph Hospital. Amended Madison Affidavit ¶2. According to plaintiff, she was not given a reason for the termination at that time. Plaintiffs Memorandum of Law at 3. One day later, July 3, 1993, 4 plaintiff received a formal letter of discharge and associated termination paperwork, id ¶ 3, which listed as the reason for her dismissal a ‘Violation of hospital policy HR-26,” see St. Joseph Hospital Personnel/Change Form (attached to Plaintiffs Objection as Exhibit B).

Approximately nine months later, on April 5, 1994, Madison telephoned the NHCHR and spoke with an investigator concerning the alleged ADA violation. Amended Madison Affidavit ¶ 5. On April 29, 1994, the NHCHR received plaintiffs written Charge of Discrimination. Madison’s charge was thereafter forwarded to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on May 4, 1994, which issued a Notice of Right to Sue on February 2,1995.

*956 Madison was informed therein that her complaint was “untimely filed with the Commission, i.e. [she] waited too long from the date of the action of which [she] complained to file [her] charge.” See Notice of Right to Sue — Title VII/ADA (attached to Plaintiffs Objection as Exhibit E). Madison elected to “not dispute the Notice of Right to Sue” with the EEOC because she “wanted to file [her] ADA claim in the federal court,” Amended Madison Affidavit ¶ 8, which she did on May 3,1995.

Discussion

1. Summary Judgment Standard 5 -

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 56(c), Fed.R.Civ.P. In its review, the court must scrutinize “the entire record, indulging all reasonable inferences in that party’s favor.” Rivera-Muriente v. Agosto-Alicea, 959 F.2d 349, 352 (1st Cir.1992) (citing Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 115 (1st Cir.1990)). “Nonetheless, the nonmovant cannot content himself with unsupported allegations, rather, he must set forth specific facts, in suitable evidentiary form to establish the existence of a genuine issue for trial.” Id.

“Questions anent to the applicability and effect of the passage of time on a particular set of facts often are grist for the summary judgment mill.” McIntosh v. Antonino, 71 F.3d 29, 33 (1st Cir.1995). Accordingly, “when a defendant moves for summary judgment based on a plausible claim that the suit is time barred, the onus of identifying a trial-worthy issue customarily falls on the plaintiff.” Id. (citing Morris v. Government Dev. Bank of Puerto Rico, 27 F.3d 746, 748 (1st Cir.1994)).

2. Timely Filing under the ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was intended “to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities_” 42 U.S.C. § 12101(b)(1) (1995). Count I of Madison’s complaint invokes Title I of the ADA, which generally provides that no employer subject to the provisions of the ADA

shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.

42 U.S.C. § 12112(a). The definition of the term “discrimination” under Title I includes, in pertinent part:

not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of such covered entity....

42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(5)(A).

“There are several requirements that a plaintiff must meet ... prior to filing suit in federal court.” McKinnon v. Kwong Wah Restaurant, 83 F.3d 498, 504 (1st Cir.1996) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5). “For example, a plaintiff must file a timely EEOC charge against the discriminatory party, and receive notice of a right to sue.” Id. The “filing [of] a timely charge of discrimination with the EEOC is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to *957 suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling.” Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S.

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949 F. Supp. 953, 5 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 1840, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madison-v-st-joseph-hospital-nhd-1996.