Woodbury v. Victory Van Lines

286 F. Supp. 3d 685
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedDecember 21, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. TDC–16–2532
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 286 F. Supp. 3d 685 (Woodbury v. Victory Van Lines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodbury v. Victory Van Lines, 286 F. Supp. 3d 685 (D. Md. 2017).

Opinion

THEODORE D. CHUANG, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Shera Woodbury, who is self-represented, has brought this action against her former employer, Victory Van Lines ("Victory"), owned by Great Nation Moving, LLC ("Great Nation"), and Great Nation's principal owner, Sherif Yanuzov,1 *690alleging that she was subjected to discrimination on the basis of sex, national origin, and disability in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e to 2000e-17 (2012), and the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12112 to 12117. Woodbury also alleges that her employer violated her right to privacy by taking a picture of her when she was unconscious, violated her freedom of speech by forcing her to vote in the 2012 presidential election, and subjected her to a hostile work environment after she threatened to notify authorities about suspected illegal activity. Pending before the Court are Defendants' Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment, and Woodbury's Motion for Leave to File a Surreply. Having reviewed the pleadings, briefs, and other submitted materials, the Court finds that no hearing is necessary. See D. Md. Local R. 105.6. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' Motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Woodbury's Motion is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are presented in the light most favorable to Woodbury, the nonmoving party.

I. Discrimination Claims

Woodbury worked as a relocation specialist for Victory, a moving company, from March 2012 until she was terminated on April 4, 2014. Woodbury is a woman, born in North America, who suffers from a neurological disorder that causes seizures and epilepsy. She alleges that Victory discriminated against her based on these traits by subjecting her to unequal terms of employment and by terminating her employment.

Woodbury's job was to sell Victory's moving services. For every booking she made, she received a three percent commission based on the booking's estimated price. Her male colleague, who performed the same job, received a commission based on the actual cost of the moving services he booked, a price that was almost always higher than the estimate. Thus, from March 2012 to March 2013, she was paid less than her male counterpart for the same work. She also alleges that Victory forced her to use a separate entrance to the Victory office because she is a woman, but she does not provide a timeframe for this behavior.

On March 15, 2014, Woodbury told Defendant Yanuzov, Victory's owner and her immediate supervisor, that she would be resigning that December to start her own moving business. Four other Victory employees, one of whom was Woodbury's husband, had started their own moving businesses without any adverse action by Victory. In fact, Yanuzov had hosted a going-away part for Woodbury's husband.

Less than two weeks after Woodbury gave her notice, on March 26, 2014, Woodbury had a seizure in the Victory offices. She had a second seizure, again at work, on March 31, 2014. Following the second seizure, Yanuzov reached out to Woodbury by text message to schedule a meeting between them. At the ensuing April 4, 2014 meeting, Yanuzov fired Woodbury and explained that he was doing so because she planned to start her own moving business. When Woodbury protested that her husband had done the same thing and had not been terminated, Yanuzov replied, "[W]ell, you're not [him]." Compl. at 9, ¶ 17, ECF No. 1. Woodbury contends that of the several employees who had branched out to start their own businesses, she alone was fired, because she has a disability and because she, unlike the other employees, is of North American origin. Yanuzov is Bulgarian, and the other employees who left to start their own businesses were either Bulgarian or of a national origin that is not North American.

*691II. Additional Claims

In her Amended Complaint, Woodbury adds several causes of action. First, she asserts an invasion of privacy claim. During Woodbury's March 26, 2014 seizure, Yanuzov took a picture of her while she was unconscious. In that picture, "[h]er eyes were rolled back, she was wet, and her shirt was somewhat lifted." Compl. at 9, ¶ 13. Yanuzov showed the image to Woodbury, her husband, and several of Woodbury's coworkers. By doing so, Woodbury argues, Yanuzov "publicized" the image and "place[d] her in a false light." Pl's Resp. Mot. Dismiss ("Resp.") at 4-5, ECF No. 38. She also alleges that Yanuzov's actions were so upsetting that it caused her to suffer the second seizure.

Second, Woodbury alleges that Yanuzov made her pay raise contingent on voting for President Barack Obama during the 2012 election. When she went to vote, Woodbury was accompanied by a witness so that she could prove that she had selected the correct candidate. As she was not planning to vote, Woodbury argues that this conduct violated her right to freedom of speech.

Finally, Woodbury alleges that she was subjected to "a very hostile work environment" and the "threat of termination" after Yanuzov learned that she planned to report to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") that his marriage to a U.S. citizen was a sham in that it was entered into for the purpose of securing immigration benefits. Am. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 22. She asserts that she "was going to whistleblow" on this illegal activity and seeks $250,000 in damages "for this violation of her rights as ... an American who only was keeping the law first." Id.

III. Procedural History

On June 13, 2014, Woodbury filed a charge of discrimination with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights ("MCOHR"), which dual-filed her charge with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). The MCOHR closed the case on June 23, 2015. The EEOC then adopted the MCOHR's findings and issued a right-to-sue letter on August 5, 2015. According to Woodbury, she did not receive this letter until April 14, 2016, when the EEOC responded to her inquiry about the status of her case. She filed suit in this Court 88 days later, on July 11, 2016.

Because Woodbury failed to serve Defendants in a timely manner, the case was dismissed on November 29, 2016. On December 2, 2016, Woodbury moved to reopen, explaining that her ex-husband had withheld her mail and that she had not received this Court's orders regarding service. The case was reopened on December 5, 2016, and service was timely effected. Woodbury filed her Amended Complaint on February 27, 2017. The present causes of action are: sex and national origin discrimination in violation of Title VII; disability discrimination in violation of the ADA; invasion of privacy; a violation of Woodbury's First Amendment right to freedom of speech; and retaliation for reporting unlawful conduct.

DISCUSSION

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Bluebook (online)
286 F. Supp. 3d 685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodbury-v-victory-van-lines-mdd-2017.