Miller v. Advantage Behavioral Health Systems

146 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151975, 2015 WL 6964293
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Georgia
DecidedNovember 10, 2015
DocketCASE N0.3:14-CV-45 (CDL)
StatusPublished

This text of 146 F. Supp. 3d 1318 (Miller v. Advantage Behavioral Health Systems) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, 146 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151975, 2015 WL 6964293 (M.D. Ga. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER

CLAY D. LAND, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE,

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

Plaintiff Gloria Jane Miller alleges that Defendant Advantage Behavioral Health Systems terminated her employment because of her. age in'violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. (ADEA). Advantage seeks- dismissal of this action based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, contending that it is an arm of the state of Georgia and-thus entitled to immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. For the reasons explained in the remainder of .this .Order, the Court finds that. Advantage is not . an arm of the state for Eleventh Amendment purposes, and therefore, its motion to dismiss (ECF No. 3,4) is denied.1

BACKGROUND

The relevant facts, which. are largely undisputed, are as follows:

Advantage is a community service board that receives funding from the ■ state of Georgia to provide mental health, substance abuse,-and developmental disabilities services at clinics throughout Georgia. Georgia law creates community service boards and describes them as “public” entities. See generally O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.

Miller’s relevant employment with Advantage began as a part-time nurse in 2002. Shortly thereafter, Miller became a full-time employee. Miller contends that Advantage discrimináted against her because of her age. She alleges that Advantage intentionally placed her in a situation where she could not succeed at her job to set her up'for 'termination. After compiling a record of performance deficiencies against Miller, Advantage terminated her employment in January 2010.

In May 2014, Miller, filed the present action. In its answer, Advantage asserted [1322]*1322that Miller’s “claims may be barred by Eleventh Amendment immunity and/or sovereign immunity.” Def.’s Answer 2, ECF No. 4. Advantage also disputed the merits of Miller’s claims. In response to Miller’s first set of interrogatories, Advantage again stated that it was immune from suit and disputed the merits of Miller’s claims. Def.’s Suppl. Br. in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss Ex. A, at 8-9, ECF No. 47-1.

Although it timely raised lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on Eleventh Amendment immunity in its pleadings and during discovery, Advantage inexplicably failed to promptly file a motion to dismiss based upon this defense. Instead, the parties engaged in nearly a year of discovery on the merits of the age-based discrimination claim. At the close of discovery, Advantage filed a motion for summary judgment on that claim, but even more perplexing still did not file a motion based on its Eleventh Amendment defense. See generally Def.’s Mem. in Supp. of Summ. J., ECF No. 14-1. After spending substantial time reviewing the detailed factual record, the Court found that a genuine factual dispute existed as to whether Advantage terminated Miller because of her age. Order Den. Mot. for Summ. J., ECF No. 30. After denying Advantage’s motion for summary judgment, the Court scheduled the final pretrial conference in anticipation of a jury trial.

A week before the scheduled final pretrial conference, it apparently dawned on Advantage that it had not moved to dismiss the action based on Eleventh Amendment immunity, and it filed its tardy motion. ECF No. 34. Concluding that any ruling on the motion would likely be subject to interlocutory appellate review, the Court reluctantly continued the pretrial conference and jury trial in order to decide the late-filed motion.

DISCUSSION

I. Waiver of Eleventh Amendment Immunity

Miller argues that by delaying the filing of its motion until the eve of trial and in violation of the Court’s scheduling order, Advantage waived its Eleventh Amendment immunity defense. The Court is naturally sympathetic to this argument. Advantage’s conduct wasted judicial resources and arguably violated the Court’s scheduling order. Nevertheless, “[t]he test to determine whether a state has waived its sovereign immunity ’is a stringent one.’” Barnes v. Zaccari, 669 F.3d 1295, 1308 (11th Cir.2012)(quoting Coll. Sav. Bank v. Fla. Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd., 527 U.S. 666, 675, 119 S.Ct. 2219, 144 L.Ed.2d 605 (1999)). Accordingly, the Court finds it prudent to address the merits of Advantage’s Eleventh Amendment immunity defense.

II. Eleventh Amendment Immunity

“The Eleventh Amendment protects a State from being sued in federal court without the State’s consent.” Manders v. Lee, 338 F.3d 1304, 1309 (11th Cir.2003)(en banc). This protection not only applies to actions directly against the state itself but includes actions against “arms of the state.” Id. It has been ob served that “the jurisdictional bar embodied in the Eleventh Amendment is a ‘rather peculiar kind of jurisdictional issue.’” McClendon v. Ga. Dep’t of Comty. Health, 261 F.3d 1252, 1257 (11th Cir.2001)(quoting United States v. SCS Bus. & Tech. Inst., Inc., 173 F.3d 890, 892 (D.C.Cir.1999)). “[T]he Eleventh Amendment grants the State a legal power to assert a sovereign immunity defense should it choose to do so.” Id. (quoting Wis. Dep’t of Corr. v. Schacht, 524 U.S. 381, 389, 118 S.Ct. 2047, 141 L.Ed.2d 364 (1998)). The [1323]*1323entity invoking Eleventh Amendment immunity “bears the burden of demonstrating that it qualifie[s] as an arm of the state entitled to share in its immunity.” Haven v. Bd. of Trs. of Three Rivers Reg’l Library Sys., No. 15-11064, 625 Fed.Appx. 929, 2015 WL 5040174 (11th Cir. Aug. 27, 2015)(per curiam)(quoting Woods v. Rondout Valley Ctr. Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 466 F.3d 232, 237 (2d Cir.2006)); see Misener Marine Constr., Inc. v. Ga. Ports Auth., 199 Fed.Appx. 899, 900 (11th Cir.2006)(per curiam)(upholding the district court’s determination that the defendant “failed to satisfy its burden of establishing Eleventh Amendment immunity”); see also Hutto v. S.C. Ret. Sys., 773 F.3d 536, 543 (4th Cir.2014)(noting that every circuit to address the issue has concluded that the defendant bears the burden of demonstrating that it is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity).

The central issue presented by Advantage’s motion is whether Advantage is an “arm of the state” for Eleventh Amendment purposes. To help define whether a public entity is an “arm of the state,” courts have distinguished between entities that constitute “arms of the' state” and entities that constitute political subdivisions of the state.

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Related

Misener Marine Construction, Inc. v. Georgia Ports Authority
199 F. App'x 899 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
McClendon v. Georgia Department of Community Health
261 F.3d 1252 (Eleventh Circuit, 2001)
Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. v. Feeney
495 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Wisconsin Department of Corrections v. Schacht
524 U.S. 381 (Supreme Court, 1998)
Thomas Hayden Barnes v. Ronald M. Zaccari
669 F.3d 1295 (Eleventh Circuit, 2012)
Hines v. Georgia Ports Authority
604 S.E.2d 189 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2004)
Youngblood v. Gwinnett Rockdale Newton Community Service Board
545 S.E.2d 875 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2001)
Hutto v. South Carolina Retirement System
773 F.3d 536 (Fourth Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
146 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151975, 2015 WL 6964293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-advantage-behavioral-health-systems-gamd-2015.