Newsome v. Administrative Office of the Courts

51 F. App'x 76
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 4, 2002
DocketNo. 00-4327
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 51 F. App'x 76 (Newsome v. Administrative Office of the Courts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newsome v. Administrative Office of the Courts, 51 F. App'x 76 (3d Cir. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Gaye Newsome appeals pro se from the District Court’s entry of judgment for the defendants on her claims of discrimination in employment. For the reasons that follow we will affirm.

I.

Because the facts are set forth in detail in the District Court’s July 6, 2000, Amended Opinion, see App., Exh. C at 2-10, which was also published at Newsome v. Administrative Office of the Courts of NJ, 103 F.Supp.2d. 807 (D.N.J.2000), we need only summarize the pertinent background here. Newsome is employed as a Community Development Specialist in the Juvenile Intensive Supervision Program with New Jersey’s Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Beginning with her interview for that position in 1993, and continuing until sometime in 1995, New-some claims that she was subjected to numerous instances of sexual harassment by her immediate supervisor, William Coleman. On November 15, 1995, New-some first informed Phillip J. Hill, Coleman’s supervisor, that she wished to file a formal complaint against Coleman. The next day, November 16, a new supervisor was assigned to Newsome. Newsome’s position and terms of employment otherwise remained unchanged. On November 28, 1995, Newsome filed a formal EEO complaint against Coleman.

After interviewing several AOC employees about the allegations against Coleman, Robert E. Battle, the EEO investigator, issued a report concluding that Newsome’s allegations were “unsubstantiated.” Supp. App. at 39a. Newsome then filed a complaint with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which determined, after its own investigation, [78]*78that “[c]redible witness testimony supports [Newsome’s] allegations of sexual harassment,” and that “there is reasonable cause to believe that [AOC] discriminated against [Newsome] because of her sex (female) in violation of Title VII.... ” App., Exh. D at 3. The EEOC issued a right-to-sue letter, and Newsome commenced this action in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, asserting in her counseled complaint claims against the AOC, Coleman, Hill, and Battle under Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD), and also a state-law claim against Coleman for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

By Order entered June 30, 2000, the District Court granted the defendants’ motions for summary judgment on the Title VII claim, granted summary judgment to Coleman, Hill, and Battle on the LAD claims, denied summary judgment to the-AOC on the LAD claim, and denied summary judgment to Coleman on the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Thereafter, the AOC moved for summary judgment on the LAD claim on the ground of Eleventh Amendment immunity, and the District Court granted that motion by Order entered November 14, 2000. New-some filed her notice of appeal on December 13, 2000. Several months later, on June 22, 2001, the District Court entered summary judgment for Coleman on the intention infliction of emotional distress claim.

II.

A. Appellate Jurisdiction

The AOC argues that we should decline to exercise appellate jurisdiction. It notes that an appealable final judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 was not entered until June 22, 2001, when the District Court entered summary judgment for Coleman on the remaining state-law claim. Thus, the AOC contends, this appeal was prematurely taken from a non-final order, and it argues that “appellant has failed to bring before the court defendant William Coleman, the alleged harasser.” Appellee’s Br. at 1. Because Newsome has purportedly “failed to join in this appeal all interested parties,” the AOC argues that “this court should decline to exercise jurisdiction over the matter and dismiss the appeal.” Id. at 2. We reject this argument.

As the AOC acknowledges, it is well-settled in this Circuit that “an order which is not final but which is followed by an order that is final may be regarded as an appeal from the final order in the absence of a showing of prejudice to the other party.” Richerson v. Jones, 551 F.2d 918, 922 (3d Cir.1977). In Cape May Greene, Inc. v. Warren, 698 F.2d 179 (3d Cir.1983), the defendants filed a cross-claim that was not actually litigated either before or after entry of the order from which the appeal was taken, but when the District Court dismissed the cross-claim after the notice of appeal was filed, we held that appellate jurisdiction existed, as the appellee would suffer no prejudice and this Court had yet to take “any action on the merits.” Id. at 184. In such a case, the premature notice of appeal can be deemed effective as of the date of entry of the final order. Id. at 185.

The AOC seems to suggest that it has been prejudiced by Newsome’s failure to join Coleman in the appeal, but we fail to see any prejudice. The briefing notice was issued well after the District Court’s June 21, 2001, final judgment was entered; the AOC had ample notice that Newsome would raise at least the Title VII claim on appeal; and no action had been taken on the merits at the time the final judgment was entered. Moreover, the AOC simply offers no persuasive reason for declining [79]*79jurisdiction under the Cape May Greene analysis merely because all parties to the action in the District Court have not appeared before this Court. Thus, we conclude that it is appropriate to exercise jurisdiction pursuant to § 1291.

B. Title VII claim

The District Court entered summary judgment in favor of the AOC on New-some’s Title VII claim.1 Our review is plenary, and as the District Court fully explained, summary judgment is appropriately entered only when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact” and “the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

The District Court determined that Newsome “set forth substantial evidence of repeated unwelcome sexual advances by Coleman” and found that she made a prima facie case of a hostile work environment. App., Exh. C at 15. The District Court concluded, however, that summary judgment was warranted based on the affirmative defense to liability recognized in Burlington Indus, v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998), and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 118 S.Ct. 2275, 141 L.Ed.2d 662 (1998). Ellerth and Faragher

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Bluebook (online)
51 F. App'x 76, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newsome-v-administrative-office-of-the-courts-ca3-2002.