Malloy v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

187 F. Supp. 3d 34, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66560, 2016 WL 2962196
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMay 20, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 2015-1499
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 187 F. Supp. 3d 34 (Malloy v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Malloy v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 187 F. Supp. 3d 34, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66560, 2016 WL 2962196 (D.D.C. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

RANDOLPH D. MOSS, United States District Judge

Ricardo Malloy, proceeding pro se, brings -this suit against his former employer, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“WMATA”), and his former union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 (“Union”). The complaint includes allegations of conspiracy, treason, slavery, and numerology, but at its core it alleges a dispute over Malloy’s termination from WMATA and the alleged failure of his union to represent him adequately during that process. Both WMATA and the Union have moved to dismiss. As explained be *38 low, the Court concludes that Malloy’s most substantial claims are barred by the statute of limitations and that his remaining claims are unsupported by plausible, factual allegations. The Court will, accordingly, GRANT the Defendants’ motions and dismiss the complaint.

I. BACKGROUND

For purposes of resolving Defendants’ motions to dismiss, the Court accepts the following allegations contained in the complaint as true. 1 See, e.g., Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984). Malloy 'was employed by WMATA as a train operator for fifteen years. Compl. ¶ 1. On January 5, 2013, he was operating a train that closed its doors on the arm of one of Malloy’s supervisors, Rachael Corbie. Id. ¶26. According to a report Corbie filed, which Malloy quotes in his complaint, Corbie immediately contacted Malloy, on the train’s emergency intercom, identified herself, asked that Malloy - identify himself, and asked if Malloy “realized that he held [Corbie] in the door?’’ Id. ¶27. The incident rapidly degenerated into a verbal and physical confrontation. Rather than respond to his supervisor’s question, Malloy asked Corbie whether she had heard the “chimes,” indicating that the doors were about to close. Id. When Corbie indicated that she was not given ample time to avoid the doors, Malloy “cut [her] off,” and once again asked, “did you or did you not hear the door chimes!” Id. Corbie then informed Malloy that she was taking him “out of service,” and, at the next stop, she walked down the platform and entered the “operating cab.” Id. ¶ 28. As Malloy was leaving the cab, Corbie instructed him not to leave. Id. Disregarding Corbie, Malloy left the cab, “bumping the right side of [Corbie’s] body,” and told Corbie that he was “out of service” and that she should operate the train. Id. After the train arrived at the Greenbelt Terminal, Malloy once again approached Corbie and again-asked whether she “did not hear the door announcement.” Id. ¶29. Corbie asked Mallory “to leave [her] alone.” Id. The transit police were summoned and took statements from both Malloy and Corbie. Id. ¶ 30.

Six days after this incident, WMATA superintendent Edwin Harris emailed Lisa Cooper-Lucas, who was apparently the point of contact for WMATA’s Employee Assistance Program, and asked how he “could get [Malloy] ... some type of (mental) fitness for duty evaluation.” Compl. ¶43. Harris described Malloy as “an employee who has been displaying some very erratic and irrational behavior” and recounted two incidents in the recent past. Id. ¶ 42. One was the episode with Corbie; the other occurred several weeks earlier when Malloy was also “taken out of service,” this time for “operating his train with a safety switch unsealed.” Id. ¶42. The email further explained that following the incident involving the safety switch, Malloy became irate .and began “screaming in the hallway and the office of [Harris’s] assistant and demanded a letter” addressing certain problems with Metro. Id. Harris added that “[t]hese are just two in a string of incidents with [Malloy] and each time there is [an] event, he always writes long reports describing a conspiracy theory that the Authority/Union is out to get him.” Id. ¶ 43. Finally, Harris wrote that he did not believe that Malloy could “operate a train safely.” Id.

Although the complaint does not recount Cooper-Lucas’s response, Harris told Mal-loy to report to the Employee Assistance Program for a medical exam on January 15, 2013. Compl. ¶ 44. When Malloy asked why this was necessary, Harris allegedly stated that he was “not going to argue *39 with” Malloy and that “because of his relationship with the Freemasons,” neither “the arbitrator[-] nor the public would hear of [Malloy’s] grievance.” Id.- ¶ 44. Malloy then contacted a uiiion officer and explained that he had been instructed to undergo, a medical examination and that Harris had refused to provide any reason for this direction. Id. ¶ 45, In response, the union officer allegedly told Malloy that Harris could indeed require him to undergo a medical exam without offering an explanation. Id. Malloy then signed a form acknowledging that he. had to submit to the exam but wrote on the form that he did “not understand the purpose or the goal of this examination,” but he was complying because he had “been instructed to make the appointment o[r] lose [his] position as a train operator.” Id.

Malloy arrived for . his evaluation . the next day and began by filling out a questionnaire. Compl. ¶48. At that point, he alleges, “Dr. Thomas, whom [Malloy] had never met, led [him],to her office wearing an inappropriately tight, fuchsia, or light purple dress.” Id. Malloy then began, to record their conversation with a mini-recorder, Id. The contents' of that recording are not part of the record. Malloy alleges that Dr. Thomas explained that he had been referred to her for evaluation because of his aggressive behavior during the two incidents mentioned in Harris’s email. Id. Malloy allegés that he “answered all of Dr. Thomas’s questions” and provided “full explanations.” Id.

According to theeomplaint, WMATA exr tensively investigated the incident involving Corbie. Corbie and others submitted reports to WMATA, as did the transit police. Compl. ¶¶ 37-40, 58. Following this investigation, Malloy received a letter from Harris recounting WMATA’s findings and its conclusion that Malloy was “disrespectful, rude and threatening” in his encounter with Corbie. Id. ¶58. Based on this “deplorable” conduct, Malloy was suspended for 22 days without pay and was directed “to attend a Workplace Violence class and anger Management counseling.” Id. Malloy wa's further informed that “[a]ny future serious operational violations of the rules or policy will result in your immediate termination from WMATA.” Id. ¶ 59.

Malloy filed a grievance regarding this suspension on February 22, 2013. 2 Compl. ¶ 66. The following day, he received a letter from Dr.

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187 F. Supp. 3d 34, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66560, 2016 WL 2962196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malloy-v-washington-metropolitan-area-transit-authority-dcd-2016.