Materson v. Stokes

166 F.R.D. 368, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5358, 70 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1630, 1996 WL 197376
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedApril 5, 1996
DocketCivil Action No. 2:95cv985
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 166 F.R.D. 368 (Materson v. Stokes) 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
Materson v. Stokes, 166 F.R.D. 368, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5358, 70 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1630, 1996 WL 197376 (E.D. Va. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MORGAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Materson (“Materson”) filed this pro se claim on October 4, 1995, claiming damages from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) failure to investigate the charge he filed with that office against his former employer, the Virginia Department of Corrections. Although he maintains that he was given a “Notice of Suit Rights” — which the Court assumes is a right-to-sue letter — on July 5, 1995, he avers that his complaints filed with the Office of Equal Employment Services and the EEOC claiming “race and sex discrimination,” “gender discrimination,” and “anti-white and anti-heterosexual bias” were not investigated. (See Charge of Discrimination; Complaint at 1.) It appears that Materson urges a different liability theory in his Response to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, in that he alleges “Plaintiff has been victimized by federal agency Defendants who engaged in a pattern or practice or resistance to the goals of Title VII.” (Response at 1.)

Plaintiff brings this suit pro se and he seeks relief under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically, §§ 707(b), 717, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Bob Siezer (“Siezer”) and Defendant Katherine E. Stokes’ (“Stokes”) Motions to Dismiss filed December 4, and December 12, 1995, respectfully. Plaintiff was provided with the requisite “Roseboro Notices” from each Defendant on December 12 and 13, 1995, and he responded to each motion separately on December 19 and 26,1995.

For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss.

ANALYSIS

Both Defendants Siezer and Stokes have moved to dismiss this complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). As grounds therefor, they initially allege that this Court lacks jurisdiction under Title VII to hear this case; they allege secondarily that. Materson’s complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. Materson’s responses to these motions appear to contain new allegations of discrimination against the Defendants not contained in his complaint. However, under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 15(a), Materson would have had to request leave of the Court to amend the bases for his complaint — he cannot simply include additional claims at the responsive pleadings stage.1 Thus, the Court will proceed according to the claims as laid out in his complaint.

A. Jurisdiction

Plaintiff Materson carries the burden of proving that federal subject matter jurisdiction is proper. As the party asserting jurisdiction, he continues to shoulder this burden where Defendants object to a federal district court’s assertion of jurisdiction. McNutt v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 189, 56 S.Ct. 780, 785, 80 L.Ed. [371]*3711135 (1936); Adams v. Bain, 697 F.2d 1213, 1219 (4th Cir.1982).

A motion under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure may attack subject matter jurisdiction in two different ways. First, a Rule2 12(b)(1) motion may attack the complaint on its face, asserting simply that the complaint “fails to allege facts upon which subject matter jurisdiction can be based.” Adams, 697 F.2d at 1219. Under this approach, “the facts alleged in the complaint are assumed to be true and the plaintiff, in effect, is afforded the same procedural protection as he would receive under a Rule 12(b)(6) consideration.” Id. Materson alleges no facts upon which subject matter jurisdiction could be conferred to this Court under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as he asserts. His bare statements that the “Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s choice to not perform by Title VII law, ... initiates this suit” and that the “EEOC timeliness definition is a mentally deficient definition, and would be made contrary to law” are insufficient to establish that this Court has jurisdiction under Title VII.

Utilizing the alternate Rule 12(b)(1) approach, movants may attack “the existence of subject matter jurisdiction in fact, quite apart from any pleadings.” Mortensen v. First Fed Sav. and Loan Ass’n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977); see Adams, 697 F.2d at 1219. In this case, Materson alleges federal jurisdiction under Title VII, §§ 707(b) and 717. This Court has limited jurisdiction under Title VII, and it cannot hear a case which is beyond the purview of that Act. Materson’s claims do not come within Title VIPs confines, as he merely claims in his complaint that the EEOC failed to investigate his complaints to that agency regarding his employer’s actions. Title VII does not provide a right to a general remedy against the EEOC3, Ward v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 719 F.2d 311, 313 (9th Cir.1983), cert. denied 466 U.S. 953, 104 S.Ct. 2159, 80 L.Ed.2d 544 (1984), and neither the EEOC nor the individual named Defendants were employers of Materson at any time. Thus, the remedies provided under §§ 706 and 717, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e-5, 2000e-6, are unavailable to Plaintiff according to his claims. These sections grant remedies for aggrieved individuals who bring claims in the employment context. Plaintiffs complaint is one step removed, as he sues individuals he alleges failed to investigate these Title VII type claims. The facts in his later pleadings are unrelated to the allegations set forth in his complaint.

Because the Court’s “very power to hear the case”, Mortensen, 549 F.2d at 891, is at issue in such a 12(b)(1) motion, the trial court is free to weigh the evidence to determine the existence of its jurisdiction. Adams, 697 F.2d at 1219; Mortensen, 549 F.2d at 891. “In short, no presumptive truthfulness attaches to the plaintiffs allegations, and the existence of disputed material facts will not preclude the trial court from evaluating for itself the merits of jurisdictional claims.” Mortensen, 549 F.2d at 891. No facts have been submitted by any party which would be relevant to the complaint; as the Court previously noted, Plaintiff failed to allege any facts and Defendants’ arguments hinge on legal issues alone.

As a preliminary matter, the Court FINDS that Plaintiff has failed to support his claim for jurisdiction under Title VII under Rule 12(b)(1), however, as he is a pro se petitioner, it will retain jurisdiction to examine the pleadings for alternative bases of jurisdiction and for sufficiency of the claim under Rule 12(b)(6).

B. Failure to State a Claim

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Bluebook (online)
166 F.R.D. 368, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5358, 70 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1630, 1996 WL 197376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/materson-v-stokes-vaed-1996.