Wilson v. McDonough

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJuly 10, 2025
DocketCivil Action No. 2024-0477
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Wilson v. McDonough, (D.D.C. 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

LISA J. WILSON,

Plaintiff,

v. No. 24-cv-477-MAU

DOUG COLLINS, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, et al.,1

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Pro se Plaintiff Lisa Wilson brings this case against the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug

Collins in his official capacity and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Anne Marie Duncan in her

official and individual capacities. ECF No. 1 at 2.2 Defendants move to dismiss under Federal

Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and (b)(6). ECF No. 20. For the reasons set forth below,

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (“Motion”) is GRANTED. Wilson’s Complaint against Duncan

in her individual capacity is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for failure to effect service

of process.3

BACKGROUND

The Court accepts the factual allegations in Wilson’s Complaint as true and considers her

allegations in light of her other filings. Ho v. Garland, 106 F.4th 47, 50 (D.C. Cir. 2024) (citations

omitted). Wilson is an EEO investigator in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

1 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d), the current Defendant has been substituted for his predecessor. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). 2 Citations throughout this Opinion are to the page numbers in a filing’s ECF header. 3 Defendants’ counsel does not yet represent Duncan in her individual capacity. ECF No. 20 at 1.

1 (“VA”) Office of Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion (“ORMDI”). ECF Nos. 1 at

4; 1-1 at 1; 22 at 5. She holds a General Schedule level thirteen (“GS-13”) position. ECF No. 1

at 5. Duncan is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary at ORMDI. ECF Nos. 1 at 2; 1-1 at 1.

Wilson alleges that individuals at the VA engaged in misconduct, including: tampering

with EEO files; committing perjury at an administrative hearing; entering into an agreement with

the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) to operate “a national EEO office without congressional

oversight or authority”; and agreeing to a $40,000 settlement without Collins’s approval. ECF

Nos. 1 at 4; 3 at 2. Wilson contacted the VA Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) to disclose this

misconduct. ECF No. 1 at 4. She also filed a claim with the VA Office of Accountability and

Whistleblower Protection (“OAWP”) and filed a complaint with the USPS OIG. Id. On January

25, 2024, Wilson provided confidential testimony to Congress. ECF Nos. 1 at 4–5, 2 at 1; 3 at 1.

On approximately February 1, 2024, Wilson, who is an African American woman, filed a

harassment complaint with ORMDI. ECF Nos. 1-1 at 5–7; 22 at 6, 12. That same day, Duncan

informed Wilson that Duncan had forwarded the complaint to the USPS’s EEO office because

ORMDI did not investigate internal complaints. ECF No. 1-1 at 4. On February 2, 2024, Wilson

told Duncan she wished to withdraw her complaint as she did not want the USPS to process it. Id.

at 3–4.

Wilson alleges that, on February 14, 2024, members of Congress used part of her

confidential testimony to question VA officials at a public hearing. ECF Nos. 1 at 5; 3 at 1.

According to Wilson, two hours after that hearing, Duncan temporarily detailed Wilson to a GS-

12 position in ORMDI until at least May 10, 2024. ECF Nos. 1 at 5; 1-1 at 1.

On February 20, 2024, Wilson filed this Complaint in which she seeks damages and

injunctive relief, namely, to compel Defendants to restore her to her previous position. ECF No.

2 1 at 7. Wilson asserts she has “been retaliated against for [her] protected activity.” Id. at 5. She

alleges that Collins “failed to install [senior leadership] in ORMDI with unquestionable integrity”

and that Duncan retaliated against her by detailing her “under false pretense, namely a non-existent

harassment complaint.” Id. at 4. Wilson cites the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause

of the Fifth Amendment as the basis for her claims. Id. at 3. She also invokes the Equal Protection

Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. Because the Fourteenth Amendment applies to state

action, the Court construes Wilson’s equal protection claim as being brought under the Fifth

Amendment. See San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Comm., 483 U.S. 522, 542

n.21 (1987); Cutler v. U.S. Dep’t of Health & Hum. Servs., 797 F.3d 1173, 1178 n.6 (D.C. Cir.

2015).

ANALYSIS

Defendants construe Wilson’s Complaint as raising whistleblower retaliation; First and

Fifth Amendment claims; and a Bivens4 claim against Duncan in her individual capacity. ECF No.

20. When construed liberally, the Complaint also contains a retaliation claim under Title VII of

the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq.

Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter

jurisdiction and Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. Defendants raise five arguments. First,

Wilson has conceded that her claims against Defendants in their official capacity are deficient.

ECF No. 24 at 1–3. Second, Wilson has failed to exhaust her administrative remedies for her

whistleblower claim. ECF No. 20 at 5–7. Third, statutory remedies preclude Wilson’s

4 A Bivens claim is a claim against a federal officer in which a plaintiff seeks damages for a violation of their constitutional rights. Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971); see Simpkins v. District of Columbia, 108 F.3d 366, 368 (D.C. Cir. 1997).

3 constitutional claims. Id. at 7–10. Fourth, to the extent Wilson raises any Title VII claims, she

has failed to exhaust them. ECF Nos. 20 at 2 n.1; 24 at 3. Finally, Duncan argues that Wilson has

failed to serve her in her individual capacity. ECF No. 20 at 1–2. Defendants are correct.

I. Standard of Review

A Rule 12(b)(1) motion presents a threshold challenge to the Court’s subject matter

jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). The plaintiff bears the burden of establishing subject matter

jurisdiction. Arpaio v. Obama, 797 F.3d 11, 19 (D.C. Cir. 2015). In reviewing a Rule 12(b)(1)

motion, the Court will “assume the truth of all material factual allegations in the complaint and

construe the complaint liberally, granting plaintiff the benefit of all inferences that can be derived

from the facts alleged.” Am. Nat’l Ins. Co. v. FDIC, 642 F.3d 1137, 1139 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (internal

quotation marks and citations omitted).

Under Rule 12(b)(6), a defendant may move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a

claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6)

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