Young v. Office of United States Senate Sergeant at Arms

217 F.R.D. 61, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1047, 2003 WL 22015772
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedAugust 22, 2003
DocketNo. CIV.A. 98-0794(PLF)
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 217 F.R.D. 61 (Young v. Office of United States Senate Sergeant at Arms) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Young v. Office of United States Senate Sergeant at Arms, 217 F.R.D. 61, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1047, 2003 WL 22015772 (D.D.C. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss as a sanction for plaintiffs abuse of the litigation process, specifically her willful and repeated failure to comply with discovery obligations and her efforts to tamper with and/or bribe witnesses. Defendant asks the Court to dismiss this lawsuit pursuant to Rules 16(f), 37(b) and 41(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and pursuant to the inherent power of the Court to preserve the integrity of the judicial system. Upon consideration of the entire record in this case, particularly the testimony offered at the evidentiary hearing on October 25, 2000, the Court finds that there is clear and convincing evidence of misconduct by the plaintiff and that any sanction short of dismissal would be inadequate. For these reasons, the Court grants defendant’s motion to dismiss.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Renee Young was employed as a bindery specialist at the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (“SAA”) from October 1979 until her termination on December 19, 1997. Plaintiff alleges that she was subjected to a hostile work environment at the SAA, which caused her to suffer a nervous breakdown and post-traumatic stress disorder. See Third Amended Complaint ¶¶ 24, 25 (“Am. Compl.”). More specifically, Ms. Young alleges that starting in 1989 and continuing through 1996, two of her supervisors subjected her to numerous unsolicited and unwelcome sexual actions. See id. at ¶¶ 10, 11. Ms. Young also alleges that several coworkers participated in the sexual harassment by subjecting her to sexual jokes and spreading rumors that Ms. Young and another one of her supervisors were involved in a sexual relationship. See id. at ¶ 13. Ms. Young claims that she complained on several occasions to management personnel, but that no disciplinary action was ever taken. See id. at ¶ 12.

Ms. Young took leave from her job in August 1997 to address a medical disability, namely, post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that plaintiff alleges was caused by the hostile work environment to which she was subjected. See Am. Compl. ¶¶24, 25. Before her termination on December 19, 1997, Ms. Young participated in three counseling and mediation sessions through the Office of Compliance, a step required by the Congressional Accountability Act, 2 U.S.C. §§ 1301 et seq. (“CAA”), before congressional employees can file an employment discrimination suit against Congress. See Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 6, 7, 8, 27; 2 U.S.C. § 1402(a). Ms. Young filed this action on March 27, 1998, three months after her termination.

In her Third Amended Complaint, plaintiff alleges that: (1) defendant created a hostile work environment, which included repeated sexual harassment of plaintiff; (2) she was terminated without due process;1 (3) defendant retaliated against plaintiff for making sexual harassment complaints; (4) defendant engaged in disability discrimination; (5) defendant violated the Family Medical Leave Act; and (6) defendant retaliated against plaintiff by misrepresenting the facts concerning Ms. Young’s termination, which caused Ms. Young’s unemployment benefits to be delayed and then denied. See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 34, 40, 42, 48, 51, 57. Ms. Young has been proceeding pro se since her lawyers withdrew from the case in October 1999.

Defendant has moved to dismiss plaintiffs case in its entirety as a sanction for plaintiffs bad faith abuse of the litigation process. Specifically, defendant alleges that plaintiff willfully refused to comply with discovery obligations and participated in two incidents of witness tampering. In light of this severe [65]*65misconduct, defendant argues, plaintiffs case should be dismissed. The Court concludes that the severity of plaintiffs misconduct and the inadequacy of lesser sanctions justify dismissal of this case in its entirety.

II. DISCUSSION A The Court’s Power to Sanction

1. Sanctions Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

A court may impose a range of sanctions based on several of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including in some instances dismissal. First, Rule 37(b)(2) permits a court to issue such orders “as are just” to sanction a party who fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery, including a discovery order under Rule 26, governing discovery generally, and Rule 35, governing orders for independent physical or mental examinations. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(1). Such sanctions may include taking certain facts as established, prohibiting the introduction of certain evidence, striking pleadings or parts thereof, staying further proceedings until the order is obeyed, or dismissing the action or proceeding or any part thereof and/or rendering a judgment by default against the disobedient party. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2); Bonds v. District of Columbia, 93 F.3d 801, 807-08 (D.C.Cir.1996); Shepherd v. American Broadcasting Cos., 62 F,3d 1469, 1474 (D.C.Cir.1995).2 In addition, Rule 16 of the Federal Rules authorizes a court to sanction a party for failure to follow a scheduling or pretrial order, by imposing any of the sanctions authorized by Rule 37(b) as appropriate. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 16(f). Finally, Rule 41 authorizes a court to dismiss a case for failure to prosecute or to comply with the Federal Rules or any order of the court. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b).

2. The Court’s Inherent Power

When the Federal Rules do not provide courts with sufficient authority to protect the integrity of the judicial system and prevent abuses of the judicial process, courts have the inherent power to impose sanctions for abusive litigation practices undertaken in bad faith. See Shepherd v. American Broadcasting Cos., 62 F.3d at 1472. “These powers are ‘governed not by rule or statute but by the control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases.’ ” Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 43, 111 S.Ct. 2123, 115 L.Ed.2d 27 (1991) (quoting Link v. Wabash R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962)). Because its inherent judicial power “must be exercised with restraint and discretion,” Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S.

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217 F.R.D. 61, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14654, 92 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1047, 2003 WL 22015772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-office-of-united-states-senate-sergeant-at-arms-dcd-2003.