Taboas v. Fiddler, Gonzalez & Rodriguez, PSC

41 F. Supp. 3d 137, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121307, 2014 WL 4244210
District Court, D. Puerto Rico·Decided August 28, 2014·No. Civil No. 13-1205 (FAB)·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BESOSA, District Judge.

Before the Court are five motions in limine filed by defendant Fiddler, Gonzalez & Rodriguez, PSC (“FGR”), (Docket Nos. 101-105), and two motions in limine filed by plaintiff Maria del Carmen Taboas (“Taboas”) (Docket Nos. 100 &' 114-1.) The Court addresses each motion in turn below.

I. Taboas’s Motion to Exclude FGR’s “New Lines of Defense” to her Law 80 Claim

Taboas moves to preclude FGR from presenting evidence at trial regarding its “new lines of defense” to her Law 80 claim. (Docket No. 100.) Puerto Rico’s Law 80 provides that “the employer is bound to plead in his answer to the complaint the facts that led to the dismissal, and to prove that it was justified in order to be exempted from compliance with the provision of § 185a of this title.” P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 29, § 185k. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court has interpreted this provision as allocating to the employer the burden of proving that the dismissal was justified. Secretario del Trabajo v. I.T.T., 8 P.R. Offic. Trans. 564, 108 D.P.R. 536 (1979).

Taboas argues that pursuant to Law 80’s provisions, FGR cannot present any new fact in its defense beyond those that it [140]*140plead in its answer to the complaint. In its answer and amended answer, FGR alleged,

J. Taboas’s termination was for just cause.
K. Plaintiff fails to establish a cause of action for unjustified dismissal under [Law 80].
L. Taboas was terminated primarily because she consistently failed to meet her production budget despite various meetings with Taboas to discuss the problem. FGR also received complaints from coworkers that Taboas was a very difficult person to work with and several clients informed that they were not satisfied with Taboas’ [sic] as their attorney.

(Docket Nos. 9 & 34.) Taboas maintains that in its arguments regarding summary judgment, FGR raised for the first time as a defense that Taboas was inefficient in carrying out her duties and that she was subjected to numerous sanctions during her tenure at FGR.

Taboas’s argument attempts to elevate form over substance. While the defenses FGR presented at the summary judgment stage were worded differently from the affirmative defenses raised in its answer, the substance of the defenses is the same. FGR characterizes Taboas’s consistent failure to meet her production goals as “inefficiency,” and the multiple meetings and communications it had with her regarding her production deficiencies as “sanctions.” (See, e.g., Docket Nos. 51-1 at p. 3; 108 at pp. 19-21.) Taboas points to no authority indicating that an employer is bound to use the same wording, or point to the same set of facts, at each stage of the litigation. Accordingly, Taboas’s motion in limine (Docket No. 100) is DENIED.

II. Taboas’s Motion to Exclude Evidence Added by FGR to the Amended Proposed Pretrial Order

Taboas moves to exclude argument, evidence or both regarding the decisions taken by FGR’s Board of Directors with respect to her dismissal. (Docket No. 114-1.) Specifically, she seeks to exclude one new witness and four new exhibits included by FGR in the amended Proposed Pretrial Order (“PPO”). (See Docket Nos. 113 at p. 62, ¶ 13; 113-2, exhibits Q through T.) The parties originally filed a PPO and their respective exhibit lists on August 15, 2014. (Docket No. 95.) Finding the original PPO — particularly Ta-boas’s portions — to be deficient, the Court ordered the parties to submit a new PPO in compliance with Local Rule 16 by August 25, 2014. (Docket No. 99.) In compliance with the Court’s order, the parties timely submitted a new PPO. (Docket No. 113.) In the new PPO, FGR announced a new witness — Jose A. Sosa (Docket No. 113 at p. 62 ¶ 13) — and attached a modified exhibit list adding four new- exhibits. (Docket No. 113-2, Exhibits Q-T.)

As an initial matter, the Court is unimpressed that FGR took advantage of an extension of time that was clearly provided for Taboas to update her portions of the PPO, in order to add new evidence of its own. Nevertheless, because FGR provided the new exhibits to plaintiff on April 11, 2014 as part of its amended answers to interrogatories and request for production of documents, the Court finds that Taboas is not prejudiced by the tardy amendment. Additionally, because FGR is not offering the recently provided Board of Directors meeting minutes to prove any action with regard to Taboas’s dismissal, but rather to provide the context in which the firm discussed and implemented cost-cutting measures, the Court finds the evidence to be relevant. Accordingly, the Court DE[141]*141NIES plaintiffs motion in limine to exclude evidence added by FGR in the amended PPO (Docket No. 114-1).

III. FGR’s Motion to Exclude Anecdotal Evidence Concerning Other Employees

FGR seeks to exclude all anecdotal evidence, including comparator and “me too” evidence, concerning other former FGR employees who were allegedly terminated by the firm. (Docket No. 101.) Specifically, Taboas .seeks to present evidence at trial to prove that FGR dismissed another former FGR attorney, Rafael Davila (“Davila”), when he was 55 years old. FGR maintains that this evidence is inadmissible because (1) Taboas cannot establish that the employees in question are similarly situated to her; (2) because the evidence is remote in time — and therefore irrelevant — to Taboas’s claims; (3) the evidence constitutes inadmissible hearsay; and (4) the probative value of the evidence is outweighed by the risk of unfair prejudice. Id.

A. Similarly Situated

In an age discrimination case, a plaintiff must prove as an element of her case that the defendant acted with discriminatory animus. See, e.g., Velez v. Thermo King de P.R., Inc., 585 F.3d 441, 446-47 (1st Cir.2009). A plaintiff may show a defendant’s state of mind through circumstantial evidence, including through evidence of the employer’s prior incidents of discrimination or the employer’s discriminatory atmosphere. See Sprint/United Mgmt. Co. v. Mendelsohn, 552 U.S. 379, 386, 128 S.Ct. 1140, 170 L.Ed.2d 1 (2008) (“The question whether evidence of discrimination by other supervisors is relevant in an individual ADEA case is fact based and depends on many factors, including how closely related the evidence is to the plaintiffs circumstances and theory of the case.”); Conway v. Electro Switch Corp., 825 F.2d 593, 597 (1st Cir.1987) (citing U.S. Postal Serv. Bd. of Governors v. Aikens, 460 U.S. 711, 714 n. 3, 103 S.Ct. 1478, 75 L.Ed.2d 403 (1983)); Mendelsohn v. Sprint/United Mgmt. Co., 466 F.3d 1223, 1226 (10th Cir.2006) (compiling cases recognizing testimony of other employees as potentially probative of an employer’s discriminatory intent), rev’d. on other grounds, Sprint, 552 U.S. at 388, 128 S.Ct. 1140; Stair v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Taboas v. Fiddler, Gonzalez & Rodriguez, PSC, 41 F. Supp. 3d 137, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121307, 2014 WL 4244210 (prd 2014).

41 F. Supp. 3d 137 (Taboas v. Fiddler, Gonzalez & Rodriguez, PSC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Little v. Budd Co.
339 F. Supp. 3d 1202 (D. Kansas, 2018)