Williams v. Richland County Children Services

861 F. Supp. 2d 874, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113762, 2011 WL 4625975
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 30, 2011
DocketCase No. 1:10CV02454
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 861 F. Supp. 2d 874 (Williams v. Richland County Children Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Richland County Children Services, 861 F. Supp. 2d 874, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113762, 2011 WL 4625975 (N.D. Ohio 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER (Resolving ECF Nos. 4 & 15)

BENITA Y. PEARSON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Alverta Williams (“Plaintiff’ or “Williams”) filed the present race discrimination action against Defendant Richland County Children Services, Defendant Randy J. Parker (“Parker”) in his individual and official capacity, Defendant Richland Newhope Center (collectively “Richland Defendants”), and Defendant Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging (the “Agency”), alleging violations of federal and Ohio statutory law. ECF Nos. 1; Ik-

Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), Rich-land Defendants and the Agency filed motions to dismiss Plaintiff Williams’ complaint. ECF Nos. 4; 15. Plaintiff opposes the motions, and the above named Defen[877]*877dants have filed replies. ECF Nos. 9; 11; 17; 18.

For the reasons that follow, Richland Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part. The motion is granted in part as to the § 1981 claim against Defendants Richland County Children Services, Richland Newhope Center, and Randy J. Parker in his official capacity, and the § 1985 claim, breach of contract, tortious interference with contract against all of the Richland Defendants. The motion is denied in part as to the § 1981 claim against Defendant Randy J. Parker (“Parker”) in his individual capacity and the § 1983 claim against all of the Richland Defendants. The Court grants the Agency’s motion to dismiss, in its entirety. The Agency is hereby removed as a Defendant to the instant lawsuit. ECP No. 15.

I. Background

This case involves alleged discriminatory actions perpetrated by Richland Defendants and the Agency against Williams. Plaintiff Williams is an African-American owner of a company that, among other services, provides housing and transportation for the elderly and special needs individuals. ECF No. 1 at 3, 1, 7. Richland Defendants and the Agency assign these individuals to Williams’ housing and transportation company. ECF No. 1 at 3, 7. Williams’ claims that Richland Defendants and the Agency racially discriminated against her by implementing stricter operating standards, disparate placement of potential clients, and decreased transportation assignments. ECF No. 1.

A. Allegations Regarding Richland Defendants

Williams alleges Richland Defendants violated 12 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1988, and 1985, and asserts claims for state law breach of contract and tortious interference with contract. ECF No. 1.

Williams alleges that Richland Defendants placed only very difficult clients with her services while placing less difficult clients with the services of Caucasian competitors. ECF No. 1 at 5, 12. Williams asserts that Richland Defendants removed an aggressive patient from her home and placed the patient in a Caucasian owner’s facility after the patient began “acting out” to an extent requiring police involvement. ECF No. 1 at 6-7, ¶¶ 19, 22-21. Defendant Parker refused to meet with Williams to discuss these issues. ECF No. 1 at 7, 25. She further claims that she has been subject to stricter operating standards, such as being precluded from owning the homes in which her clients are placed, while agencies owned by Caucasian competitors are permitted to own the placement homes. ECF No. 1 at ' 5, 11. Williams contends that she has received a smaller share of assignments for services than Caucasian competitors. ECF No. 1 at 5, 15.

B. Allegations Regarding the Agency

Williams alleges that the Agency violated 12 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1985, O.R.C. § 1112, and asserts state law tortious interference with contract. ECF No. 11.

In Williams’ more definite statement, she alleges that the Agency interrogated clients when they requested Williams’ services and assigned those clients to competitors owned by Caucasians. ECF No. 11 at 3. The Agency has allegedly refused the clients’ requests for Williams’ services and reduced Williams’ transportation assignments to fifty percent less than that of Caucasian competitors. ECF No. 11 at 1. In response, Williams complained of the assignment disparity to the Agency. ECF No. 11 at 3, 1. Williams alleges that the Agency initially responded that assignments are made on a rotating basis, and later added that the Caucasian competitor, [878]*878Apple Lane, received assignments for lower prices. ECF No. 1U at 3.

II. Standard of Review

In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court must take all well-plead allegations in the complaint as true and construe those allegations in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (citations omitted). “To 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 Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “While legal conclusions can provide the framework of a complaint, they must be supported by factual allegations.” Id. at 1950. Despite the overruling of Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), it remains that Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2), is intended to “give the defendant fair notice of what the plaintiffs claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Although this pleading standard does not require great detail, the factual allegations in the complaint “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

“Although this is a liberal pleading standard, it requires more than the bare assertion of legal conclusions. Rather, the complaint must contain either direct or inferential allegations respecting all the material elements to sustain a recovery under some viable legal theory.” First Am. Title Co. v. Devaugh, 480 F.3d 438, 444 (6th Cir.2007) (quoting Se. Tex. Inns, Inc. v. Prime Hospitality Corp., 462 F.3d 666, 671-72 (6th Cir.2006)). In other words, claims set forth in a complaint must be plausible, not just than conceivable. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “[Wjhere 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[nj’ — ‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ” Iqbal,

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861 F. Supp. 2d 874, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113762, 2011 WL 4625975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-richland-county-children-services-ohnd-2011.