Marten v. Yellow Freight System, Inc.

993 F. Supp. 822, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1249, 1998 WL 45290
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 13, 1998
DocketCivil Action 96-2013-GTV
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 993 F. Supp. 822 (Marten v. Yellow Freight System, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marten v. Yellow Freight System, Inc., 993 F. Supp. 822, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1249, 1998 WL 45290 (D. Kan. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

VAN BEBBER, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action alleging retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Plaintiff also asserts state law claims, of outrage, defamation, false imprisonment, assault, and battery. The case is before the court on the following:

(1) Plaintiff’s motion (Doe. 125) to reconsider the court’s Order denying his motion to file a first amended complaint; and
(2) Defendant’s motion (Doc. 92) for summary judgment.

Plaintiffs motion for reconsideration is denied. The court finds that plaintiff had adequate opportunity to amend his complaint between- his original filing in January 1996 and the deadline for amendment in October 1996. The plaintiff is not required to wait until a motion deadline is established to file a motion to amend the complaint. Accordingly, his suggestion that he never could have amended the complaint is wrong. Moreover, whether the deadline was October 1, 1996 or October 1, 1997, plaintiff’s motion filed on October 23,1997 was untimely.

For the reasons set forth below, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is granted on plaintiff’s outrage, defamation, and false imprisonment claims and is denied on plaintiff’s retaliation, assault, and battery claims.

7. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are either uncontroverted or are based on evidence submitted with summary judgment papers viewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. Immaterial facts and facts not properly supported by the record are omitted.

On September 20, 1993, defendant hired plaintiff as a part-time records clerk. Defendant promoted plaintiff to full-time tracing clerk in its records center on November 1, 1993 and, subsequently, to scanning specialist on February 14, 1994. Each promotion resulted in a pay raise for plaintiff. Plaintiff received an additional pay increase approximately one month after becoming a scanning specialist and again in the fall of 1994. Prior to the time he received his fall 1994 pay increase, plaintiff had not complained of discrimination.

Plaintiff claims that as a scanning specialist, his position was one of three lead *825 positions in the records center. As a lead person, plaintiff hired, trained, coordinated, supervised, and distributed work to temporary and irregular employees. Plaintiff alleges that shortly after promoting. him to lead person, Gary Bowman, the manager of the records center, ordered plaintiff to engage in acts entailing race and gender discrimination against other employees. When plaintiff resisted, Bowman indicated that plaintiff’s review was approaching.

Plaintiff complained about Bowman’s race and gender discrimination to defendant’s human resources employees, Dana Hiatt and Jackie Nelson, on November 11, 1994 and again when he met with Nelson, Hiatt, and Nile Glasebrook, Bowman’s immediate superr visor, on November 18, 1994. Hiatt and Nelson indicated to Glasebrook that they had been aware of Bowman’s conduct for over a year. Despite their prior knowledge and plaintiffs complaints, however, neither Hiatt, Nelson, nor Glasebrook investigated and Bowman received no counseling or discipline.

On November 19, 1994, plaintiff met with Glasebrook and Bowman regarding the'complaints. Subsequently, Bowman warned plaintiff to bring his complaints directly to Bowman. Prior to November 1994, plaintiff never received counseling or discipline for performance problems. Plaintiff claims that, after the November 19 meeting, Bowman became cold and rude toward plaintiff, refused to answer his work-related questions, refused to give him administrative support, and excluded him from administrative meetings. After plaintiff complained, Bowman also began to keep a personal file on plaintiff and took copious notes of plaintiffs behavior, including whether plaintiff greeted Bowman in the morning. Bowman did not discuss the noted problems with plaintiff.

In January 1995, plaintiff attempted to notify Hiatt and Nelson that Bowman had been retaliating against him. Hiatt did not respond to plaintiffs call and Nelson denied any retaliation. On January 20, 1995, plaintiff told Glasebrook that Bowman retaliated against him for his complaints. Plaintiff contends that Glasebrook responded with support for Bowman, alleging plaintiff was insubordinate, and that Bowman indicated plaintiff was not doing his job. No one investigated the complaint of retaliation at that time.

Plaintiff alleges that Bowman transferred him within the records center from his scanning specialist/lead position to the mail desk under Laree Hellwig and Nancy Stevens on January 24, 1995. The mail desk is a position of less prestige and responsibility than the scanning specialist position.' Plaintiff was characterized on the work schedule - as “mail preparation” personnel and no longer as a “scanner.” On February 10, 1995, plaintiff notified' Hellwig that he needed to leave work early. Hellwig granted plaintiffs request and offered to tell Bowman who was in a meeting at the'.time. The same day, plaintiff filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (EEOC), alleging retaliation for making protected complaints. The next work day, on February 18, 1995, Bowman reprimanded plaintiff for not notifying him that he was leaving early' and warned plaintiff that he would have plaintiff “taken care of’ that afternoon. Plaintiff immediately contacted Cindy Harrow, the ■ EEO coordinator in Human Resources, regarding Bowman’s threat. •

Harrow met with plaintiff on February 13 and 15 and discussed plaintiffs complaints and his EEOC charge. Harrow conducted a limited investigation, interviewing Bowman and four white women. During their interviews, all four women described incidents in which plaintiff had been disruptive in the workplace. At least two of the women, Hell-wig and Jan Dahlgren, a scanning speeialist/lead person, knew' of plaintiffs complaints when they were interviewed.

The EEOC sent defendant a copy of plaintiffs charge on February 14, 1995. On February 22, 1995, Glasebrook and Harrow held a meeting with plaintiff “to bring closure to the matter.” Plaintiff claims that Harrow stated that the persons interviewed substantiated his complaints but that he should stop complaining about discrimination and retaliation. After plaintiff refused and requested immediate action, plaintiff alleges that Glasebrook berated him and Harrow threatened to sue him for slander. Glasebrook got up from his chair, leaned over the plaintiff, and as the *826 plaintiff attempted to get up from his chair, Glasebrook’s chest bumped plaintiffs shoulder. Plaintiff further contends that Glasebrook blocked plaintiffs path to the door, covered the doorknob with his hand, and told plaintiff to sit down. After plaintiff indicated several times his desire to leave, Karrow told him he could go and agreed to continue her investigation. Karrow interviewed two additional people; both were white and neither worked in the records center.

On March 3, 1995, Glasebrook, Bowman, and Mark Kilpatrick, a human resources employee, met with- plaintiff.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Debord v. Mercy Health System of Kansas, Inc.
860 F. Supp. 2d 1263 (D. Kansas, 2012)
Wenner v. Bank of America, NA
637 F. Supp. 2d 944 (D. Kansas, 2009)
Fisher v. Lynch
531 F. Supp. 2d 1253 (D. Kansas, 2008)
Ribis v. Mike Barnard Chevrolet-Cadillac, Inc.
468 F. Supp. 2d 489 (W.D. New York, 2007)
Carter v. Aramark Sports & Entertainment Services, Inc.
835 A.2d 262 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2003)
Meiners v. University of Kansas
239 F. Supp. 2d 1175 (D. Kansas, 2002)
White v. Dunlap
175 F. Supp. 2d 1281 (D. Kansas, 2001)
Holdren v. General Motors Corp.
31 F. Supp. 2d 1279 (D. Kansas, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
993 F. Supp. 822, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1249, 1998 WL 45290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marten-v-yellow-freight-system-inc-ksd-1998.