(PS) Sarkis v. Yolo County Public Agency Risk Mgt. Ins. Authority

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 26, 2024
Docket2:21-cv-01097
StatusUnknown

This text of (PS) Sarkis v. Yolo County Public Agency Risk Mgt. Ins. Authority ((PS) Sarkis v. Yolo County Public Agency Risk Mgt. Ins. Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
(PS) Sarkis v. Yolo County Public Agency Risk Mgt. Ins. Authority, (E.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ARMOND SARKIS, Case No. 2:21-cv-01097-TLN-JDP (PS) 12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 13 v. THAT DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR 14 SUMMARY JUDGMENT BE GRANTED IN YOLO COUNTY PUBLIC AGENCY PART AND DENIED IN PART 15 RISK MANAGEMENT INSURANCE AUTHORITY, et al., ECF No. 61 16 Defendants. OBJECTIONS DUE WITHIN FOURTEEN 17 DAYS

18 19 Plaintiff Armond Sarkis, proceeding without counsel, commenced this wrongful 20 termination action against his former employer, Yolo County Public Agency Risk Management 21 (“Yolo” or “YCPARMIA”) and the president of its Board of Directors, Jill Cook. He alleges 22 claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), Title VII of the Civil Rights 23 Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”). 24 Defendants move for summary judgment. ECF No. 61. I recommend that defendants’ motion be 25 granted in part and that the court decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining 26 state law claims. 27 28 1 Factual Background 2 Plaintiff is an Iranian-born American of Middle Eastern descent who was born in 1970.1 3 ECF No. 61-4 at 8. Yolo is a special district that helps safeguard public funds from the risk of 4 loss by offering safety trainings and risk management and insurance programs to local 5 governments. ECF No. 61-5 at 1-2. In March 2019, plaintiff interviewed with Yolo’s Board of 6 Directors, which included defendant Cook, for the position of CEO/Risk Manager. ECF No. 61-4 7 at 9-11, 24, 41-42; ECF 64-3 at 15; ECF No. 70 at 13-20. Plaintiff was hired for the position on 8 April 10, 2019. ECF No. 61-4 at 58. Plaintiff’s employment contract enumerated a three-year 9 period of employment but specified that plaintiff was an at-will employee. ECF No. 61-4 at 9-12, 10 25-27. Part of plaintiff’s contract required him to “[k]eep the Board of Directors advised of 11 [Yolo’s] activities and laws, issues, or problems that may affect [Yolo] operations.” Id. at 13, 24. 12 Yolo employed approximately six employees during plaintiff’s tenure. Id. at 41-42. 13 In February 2020, as part of his employment with Yolo, plaintiff attended the Public 14 Agency Risk Management (“PARMA”) conference in Monterey, California. ECF No. 64-2 at 4. 15 On February 26, plaintiff invited his former coworker, Tamara Tuell, to his hotel room. ECF No. 16 70 at 43-47. What happened between the two in plaintiff’s room is disputed by the parties, but 17 they agree that Tuell subsequently filed a police report alleging that plaintiff sexually assaulted 18 her.2 Following the incident, Monterey County police officers interviewed plaintiff. ECF No. 19 61-4 at 56, 98. The Monterey County District Attorney declined to prosecute the alleged assault. 20 ECF No. 64-3 at 208, 296. 21 Following the conference, plaintiff did not inform Yolo of the incident. ECF No. 64-2 at 22 9; ECF No. 61-4 at 21. However, on April 15, 2020, Tuell sent the Yolo Board an email alleging 23 that plaintiff had sexually assaulted her at the PARMA conference on February 26, 2020. ECF 24 No. 61-3 at 2, 5-13. Tuell included a copy of the police report in the email. Id. at 5-13. In light 25

1 Defendants have raised evidentiary objections to multiple exhibits submitted by plaintiff. 26 ECF No. 65 at 6-9. Because the evidence to which defendants object was not material to 27 resolution to defendants’ motion, I decline to address those objections. 2 Plaintiff testified that nothing untoward happened between them, and that Tuell filed a 28 false police report. ECF No. 70 at 47-54. 1 of the Tuell’s email, the Board held an emergency meeting on April 22, 2020. Id. at 2. Plaintiff 2 provided the Board with his version of events from the incident on April 23, 2020. ECF No. 61-4 3 at 57-58. Plaintiff was placed on administrative leave later that day. ECF No. 64-3 at 109. The 4 Board held another meeting on May 1, 2020, during which it made the decision to terminate 5 plaintiff. ECF No. 61-3 at 2-3. The Board provided plaintiff with his termination packet on May 6 4, 2020. Id. at 15. 7 Plaintiff claims that during the month prior to his termination, defendant Cook, who 8 served as the President of the Yolo Board, made several discriminatory remarks about plaintiff. 9 ECF No. 64-3 at 40, 99. He testified that Cook called him “an arrogant immigrant,” ECF No. 64- 10 3 at 50; a “dumbass immigrant,” id. at 51; “an uncooperative old fuck,” id. at 85; an “arrogant 11 sand ni**er,”3 id. at 95; “a hard-headed arrogant immigrant,” id. at 96; and referred to him as “an 12 old grouchy dude,” id. at 106. Plaintiff also claims that Cook told him that it was “a shame” he is 13 an ethnic Armenian who was born in Iran. Id. at 96. Plaintiff first reported Cook’s 14 discriminatory remarks to Crystal Zaragoza, who was the vice-president at Yolo, on April 16, 15 2020. Id. at 94; ECF No. 61-4 at 38-39. He later reported Cook’s remarks to Ron Martinez, 16 county counsel for Yolo County, on April 24, 2020. Id. Cook denies making any derogatory 17 statements about plaintiff’s national origin or age. ECF No. 61-3 at 2. 18 Plaintiff testified that Cook asked him to terminate another employee, a Tom McGuire, 19 ECF No. 70 at 24-37; ECF No. 70-1 at 9. Plaintiff refused Cook’s order and did not fire 20 McGuire, despite Cook saying she “want[ed] the old prick gone today.” ECF No. 70 at 24-37; 21 ECF No. 64-3 at 189. 22 Following plaintiff’s termination, he was replaced by an interim CEO, James Marta. ECF 23 No. 61-5 at 2. Marta is currently sixty years old. Id. Shortly thereafter, Marta was replaced by 24 Carole Richardson, who was born in 1954. Id. Finally, Barbara Lubben replaced Richardson in 25 2022. Id. Lubben was born in 1960. Id. 26 27

28 3 The court has chosen to censor this slur. 1 Legal Standard 2 Summary judgment is appropriate where there is “no genuine dispute as to any material 3 fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Washington 4 Mutual Inc. v. United States, 636 F.3d 1207, 1216 (9th Cir. 2011). An issue of fact is genuine 5 only if there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable fact finder to find for the non-moving party, 6 while a fact is material if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” 7 Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986); Wool v. Tandem Computs., Inc., 818 8 F.2d 1422, 1436 (9th Cir. 1987). 9 Rule 56 allows a court to grant summary adjudication, also known as partial summary 10 judgment, when there is no genuine issue of material fact as to a claim or a portion of that claim. 11 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Lies v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 641 F.2d 765, 769 n.3 (9th Cir. 1981) (“Rule 12 56 authorizes a summary adjudication that will often fall short of a final determination, even of a 13 single claim . . . .”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The same standards apply to 14 both a motion for summary judgment and a motion for summary adjudication. See Fed. R. Civ. 15 P. 56(a), (c); Mora v. Chem-Tronics, 16 F. Supp. 2d 1192, 1200 (S.D. Cal. 1998).

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Bluebook (online)
(PS) Sarkis v. Yolo County Public Agency Risk Mgt. Ins. Authority, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ps-sarkis-v-yolo-county-public-agency-risk-mgt-ins-authority-caed-2024.