Thomas v. New Leaders for New Schools

278 F.R.D. 347, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145586, 2011 WL 6329865
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedDecember 19, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 11-1808
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 278 F.R.D. 347 (Thomas v. New Leaders for New Schools) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas v. New Leaders for New Schools, 278 F.R.D. 347, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145586, 2011 WL 6329865 (E.D. La. 2011).

Opinion

ORDER AND REASONS

LANCE M. AFRICK, District Judge.

Before the Court is a motion1 to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5) or, in the alternative, Rule 12(b)(6), of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure filed by defendant, New Leaders, Inc. (“New Leaders” or “the organization”). Pro se plaintiff, C.C. Thomas (“Thomas”), has not filed an opposition.2 For the following reasons, the Rule 12(b)(5) [349]*349motion to dismiss for insufficient service of process will be granted unless Thomas serves New Leaders with process, or obtains a waiver of service, no later than Monday, January 19, 2012, at 5:00 p.m.

BACKGROUND

Thomas filed her complaint in the above-captioned matter on July 25, 2011. Thomas’s allegations, in their entirety, are that:

A — Due to [her] age, [she] was denied positions with [her] employer by [her] employer’s contractor.
B — The contractor choose [sic] to assist persons of younger ages without providing assistance or the opportunity of assistance to [her].
C — This age discrimination is in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.3

Thomas requests that the Court “determine the action in [her] favor and grant [her] benefits as [she] would have received had this age discrimination not occurred.”4 Thomas provides no other information regarding her claims and, accordingly, the Court relies on New Leaders’s statement of the facts applicable to this matter to provide context for Thomas’s claims.

New Leaders is a private, national, nonprofit corporation that operates a fellowship training program in twelve locations in the United States, including in New Orleans, Louisiana.5 The organization’s “Aspiring Principals Program” is devoted to training and supporting school leaders in order to improve “urban public school education and close the student achievement gap.”6 New Leaders provides program participants with five weeks of intensive training, followed by a year-long residency wherein participants receive additional training while they concurrently work in leadership positions in then-respective schools.7 New Leaders does not employ program participants; rather, the respective schools or school districts employ the participants.8 According to New Leaders, Thomas submitted two applications for consideration to be a participant in the Aspiring Principals Program between February and March 2008.9 Both applications were allegedly denied because she failed to meet New Leaders’s qualification requirements.10

New Leaders filed its motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(5) for insufficient service of process “because no U.S. Marshal ever properly served New Leaders under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4.”11 In the alternative, New Leaders argues that the Court should dismiss this matter as Thomas’s claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) fail as a matter of law under Rule 12(b)(6) because New Leaders was never Thomas’s “employer” within the meaning of that term as it is defined in the ADEA.12 New Leaders further asserts that even if Thomas had an actionable claim under the ADEA, she has not met Rule 12(b)(6)’s pleading standard because she has failed to set forth her claims with sufficient particularity.13

LAW

I. Rule 12(b)(5)

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(5) provides for dismissal of a claim if [350]*350service of process was not timely made in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 or was not properly served in the appropriate manner.” Wallace v. St. Charles Parish Sch. Bd., 2005 WL 1155770, at *1 (E.D.La. May 5, 2005). “In the absence of valid service of process, proceedings against a party are void.” Aetna Bus. Credit, Inc. v. Universal Decor & Interior Design, 685 F.2d 434, 435 (5th Cir.1981). “When service of process is challenged, the party on whose behalf it is made must bear the burden of establishing its validity.” Id. “If a defendant is not served within 120 days after the complaint is filed, the court ... must dismiss the action without prejudice against that defendant or order that service be made within a specified time.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(m).

II. Rule 12(b)(6)

Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), a district court may dismiss a complaint, or any part of it, for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted if the plaintiff has not set forth a factual allegation in support of his claim that would entitle him to relief. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007); Cuvillier v. Taylor, 503 F.3d 397, 401 (5th Cir.2007). As the Fifth Circuit explained in Gonzalez v. Kay:

“Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The Supreme Court recently expounded upon the Twombly standard, explaining that “[t]o survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, [556] U.S. [662], 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. It follows that “where the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged— but it has not ‘show[n]’ — that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Id. at 1950 (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2)).

577 F.3d 600, 603 (5th Cir.2009).

This Court will not look beyond the factual allegations in the pleadings to determine whether relief should be granted. See Spivey v. Robertson, 197 F.3d 772, 774 (5th Cir.1999); Baker v. Putnal,

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278 F.R.D. 347, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145586, 2011 WL 6329865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-new-leaders-for-new-schools-laed-2011.