Pridemore v. Legal Aid Society of Dayton

625 F. Supp. 1171, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 764, 2 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 374, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13770
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedNovember 19, 1985
DocketC-3-84-881
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 625 F. Supp. 1171 (Pridemore v. Legal Aid Society of Dayton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pridemore v. Legal Aid Society of Dayton, 625 F. Supp. 1171, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 764, 2 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 374, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13770 (S.D. Ohio 1985).

Opinion

DECISION AND ENTRY GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DOC. # 15); PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO VACATE DISCOVERY ORDER DEEMED MOOT (DOC. #10); DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS DEEMED MOOT (DOC. # 11); PLAINTIFF’S MOTIONS FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT OVERRULED (DOCS. # 16, 17); JUDGMENT TO DEFENDANT AND AGAINST PLAINTIFF; TERMINATION ENTRY

RICE, District Judge.

This ease comes before the Court for resolution of the Motion for Summary Judgment filed on May 22, 1985, by Defendant Legal Aid Society of Dayton (Doc. # 15). Plaintiff, a lawyer licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio who is representing himself in this action, has not responded to Defendant’s motion. Fed.R. Civ.P. 56(e) provides that when a motion is filed and properly supported, the opposing parties may not rest upon their pleadings, but must present sufficient evidence to demonstrate the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. At the same time, Rule 56(e) in no way alters the basic standard stated in Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) for granting summary judgment. A party is never required to respond to a motion for summary judgment in order to prevail by securing a Court order overruling the motion, since the burden of establishing the non-existence of a material factual dispute always rests with the movant. Smith v. Hudson, 600 F.2d 60, 64 (6th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 986, 100 S.Ct. 495, 62 L.Ed.2d 415 (1979).

Plaintiff, as mentioned supra, is a lawyer. In response to advertisements placed by Defendant in certain legal publications, on April 25, 1983, Plaintiff sent Defendant a two-page letter in which he inquired about the possibility of employment as a staff attorney. (Pridemore deposition, p. 34-35 and Exh. A). Defendant then sent Plaintiff a letter, requesting his law school transcript, writing samples and a statement from Plaintiff explaining his interest in employment with Defendant. Attached to Defendant’s letter was a standardized form which stated that Defendant was an equal opportunity employer and which provided applicants with spaces to indicate their sex or race. The form did not ask applicants to supply information about handicaps. Plaintiff believes that he made the following notation on the EEO form: “I am handicapped under EEOC guidelines.” (Pride- *1173 more deposition, p. 41). 1 He submitted this EEO form to Defendant along with the other requested application materials.

Plaintiff called Defendant’s office “on and off” from May through August, 1983. (Pridemore deposition, p. 40). He was told during these calls that candidates were being interviewed and that he would be contacted if any more information was required from him. In August of 1983, during the last of these phone calls, a member of Defendant’s staff informed Plaintiff that they were still interviewing candidates for the position of staff attorney. Plaintiff at that point had not been rejected for employment by Defendant. Plaintiff informed the representative of Defendant with whom he spoke during that final conversation that he would be filing a complaint of handicap discrimination by Defendant with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC). (Pridemore deposition, p. 42). Plaintiff did file such a complaint in the fall of 1983. Sometime thereafter, Plaintiff received a letter from Defendant, rejecting him from employment. Plaintiff sent a letter in response to the Defendant’s Executive Director, Dalma Grandjean, declaring that he had cerebral palsy, accusing Defendant of handicap discrimination, and offering to take a polygraph examination to substantiate his claim. (Pridemore deposition, Exh. B).

The OCRC conducted an investigation of Plaintiff’s charge, and found no reasonable cause to believe that Defendant had engaged in handicap discrimination. Either shortly before or shortly after the OCRC’s determination, Plaintiff wrote a letter to the Dayton office of the OCRC, and sent a copy to Ms. Grandjean. The letter expressed Plaintiff’s dissatisfaction with the OCRC’s finding, and stated that Ms. Grand-jean had lied to the OCRC in the course of its investigation of Plaintiff’s complaint. (Pridemore deposition, Exh. E). Plaintiff subsequently filed suit against Defendant in this Court, alleging handicap discrimination by Defendant in violation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (West Supp.1976-84). 2

In Jasany v. United States Postal Service, 755 F.2d 1244, 1249-50 & n. 5 (6th Cir.1985), the Sixth Circuit quoted with approval the test for claims of handicap discrimination outlined by the Tenth Circuit in Pushkin v. Regents of University of Colorado, 658 F.2d 1372 (10th Cir.1981). In Pushkin, the first two steps of the method of evaluating Title VII claims set forth by the Supreme Court in cases such as McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1972), was adapted to cases of handicap discrimination as follows:

(1) The plaintiff must establish a prima facie case by showing that he was an otherwise qualified handicapped person apart from his handicap, and was rejected under circumstances which give rise *1174 to the inference that his rejection was based solely on his handicap;
(2) Once plaintiff establishes his prima facie case, defendants have the burden of going forward and proving that plaintiff was not an otherwise qualified handicapped person, that is one who is able to meet all of the program’s requirements in spite o/his handicap, or that his rejection from the program was for reasons other than his handicap----

755 F.2d at 1250 n. 5.

The initial difficulty in this case, the Court finds, is determining the handicap or handicaps relevant to Plaintiff’s claim of discrimination. Cerebral palsy is the sole handicap pled in Plaintiff’s Complaint. Plaintiff emphasized in a Motion to Vacate (Doc. # 10) that “cerebral palsy is the sole handicap condition alleged in the Complaint.” Yet, Plaintiff apparently did not indicate to Defendant that he was afflicted by cerebral palsy. Rather, Plaintiff recalls that he indicated on his EEO form that he was “handicapped under EEOC guidelines.” 3 In his deposition, Plaintiff seemed to allude to three possible bases for his claim of handicap discrimination: cerebral palsy, a history of mental illness, and a learning disability.

Related

In Re Commercial Oil Service, Inc.
88 B.R. 126 (N.D. Ohio, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
625 F. Supp. 1171, 19 Fed. R. Serv. 764, 2 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 374, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pridemore-v-legal-aid-society-of-dayton-ohsd-1985.