Scott v. Boeing Co.

204 F.R.D. 698, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1288, 2002 WL 105766
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 24, 2002
DocketNo. 01-4057-DES
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 204 F.R.D. 698 (Scott v. Boeing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. Boeing Co., 204 F.R.D. 698, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1288, 2002 WL 105766 (D. Kan. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SAFFELS, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant’s Motion for Rule 11 Sanctions (Doc. 11) pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff has filed an Objection to Defendant’s Motion for Rule 11 Sanctions (Doc. 15) and defendant has filed a Reply (Doc. 16). The court has reviewed the filings and is now prepared to rule on defendant’s motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC on October 8, 1998, alleging defendant engaged in race and disability discrimination. Plaintiff received a Notice of Right to Sue (“right to sue letter”) from the EEOC on April 17, 1999. On July 13, 1999, plaintiff, acting pro se, filed a complaint against defendant in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Defendant was never served and the case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on January 21, 2000. Plaintiff, again acting pro se, filed another complaint against defendant on July 21, 2000, alleging employment discrimination. Once again, defendant was not served and the case was dismissed without prejudice for lack of prosecution on February 6, 2001. After obtaining counsel, plaintiff filed the instant action on May 18, 2001 (Doc. 1).

On July 26, 2001, defense counsel sent a letter to plaintiffs counsel urging him to dismiss the case as it was quite evident the case was.not timely filed. (Mem. in Supp. of Def. Mot. for Rule 11 Sanctions, Attach. A). The letter also advised plaintiffs counsel that defendant would be filing a motion for sanctions unless a response was received providing a reason why such sanctions were not warranted. Plaintiff did not dismiss the action and defense counsel did not receive a response from plaintiffs counsel. Defendant proceeded to file a motion to dismiss on August 8, 2001. On August 20, 2001, defense counsel sent another letter advising plaintiffs counsel a motion for sanctions would be filed. (Mem. in Supp. of Def. Mot. for Rule 11 Sanctions, Attach. B). Attached to the letter was a copy of the current motion as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(c)(1)(A). Again, plaintiffs counsel took no action.

On September 7, 2001, the court entered a Memorandum and Order (“M & O”) (Doc. 9) dismissing plaintiffs action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Scott v. The Boeing Company, No. 01-4057-DES, 2001 WL 1057750, at *2 (D.Kan. Sept.10, 2001). The court found plaintiffs right to sue had been extinguished because she had filed the case more than ninety days after receiving a right to sue letter from the EEOC. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(l) (providing that a civil rights plaintiff must initiate litigation within ninety days of receiving a right to sue letter); Million v. Frank, 47 F.3d 385, 389 (10th Cir.1995) (noting that the ninety day filing time imposed by Title VII functions like a statute of limitations); Bergman v. Sprint/United Management Co., 981 F.Supp. 1399, 1402 (D.Kan.1997) (same as applied to ADA).

Plaintiff argued that because she had filed her first complaint within the ninety day time period, the statute of limitations was tolled and her right to sue was preserved. The court unequivocally rejected this argument, finding when plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the ease it was “ ‘as though the action had never been brought.’ ” Scott, 2001 WL 1057750, at *1 (quoting Brown v. Hartshorne Public School Dist., 926 F.2d 959, 961 (10th Cir.1991)). Thus, the court found when plaintiff filed the complaint in the present [700]*700action, it was as if the other complaints had never been filed. See Brown, 926 F.2d at 961 (“filing a complaint that is dismissed without prejudice does not toll the statutory-period of Title VIL”). As such, it was noted that the complaint in this case was filed well beyond ninety days after plaintiff received her right to sue letter and was thus time barred.1

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

An attorney’s signature on a complaint or other pleadings in federal court constitutes a certification by the attorney that:

to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances-(2) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions therein are warranted by exiting law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law ....

Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(2).

To avoid sanctions under Rule 11, an attorney must meet a standard of objective reasonableness. White v. General Motors., Inc., 908 F.2d 675, 680 (10th Cir.1990). An attorney’s subjective good faith belief in the merit of an argument does not suffice to meet this standard. Augustine v. Adams, 88 F.Supp.2d 1166, 1174 (D.Kan.2000). Instead, the attorney’s belief must be “in accord with what a reasonable, competent attorney would believe under the circumstances.” White, 908 F.2d at 680. It is within the discretion of the court to determine whether the claim or argument is warranted by law. Augustine, 88 F.Supp.2d at 1174 (citing Schrag v. Dinges, 150 F.R.D. 664, 682 (D.Kan.1993)).

“[T]he primary purpose of sanctions is to deter attorney and litigant misconduct, not to compensate the opposing party for its costs in defending a frivolous suit.” White, 908 F.2d at 684. If Rule 11 is violated, however, the court may award “some or all of the reasonable attorneys’ fees and other expenses incurred as a direct result of the violation.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(c)(2). The amount of sanctions should be the minimum amount necessary to deter future violations of the rule. White, 908 F.2d at 684-85.

III. DISCUSSION

In defendant’s motion before the court, it claims plaintiffs counsel violated Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)(2) because after reasonable inquiry, counsel should have known plaintiffs claims were untimely and thus determined the claims were not warranted by existing law. In support of its motion, defendant notes plaintiffs lawsuit was filed more than two years out of time. Such an untimely lawsuit, argues defendant, certainly was not warranted by existing law and was not accompanied by nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law.

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204 F.R.D. 698, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1288, 2002 WL 105766, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-boeing-co-ksd-2002.