Willis v. District of Columbia Public Schools ( 2020 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
)
ROBERT WILLIS, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. ) No. 14-cv-1746 (KBJ)
)
VINCENT GRAY, )
)
Defendant. )
)
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Plaintiff Robert Willis worked as a biology teacher in the District of Columbia
Public School system (“DCPS”) for more than twenty years before he was notified that
his position would be terminated as part of a district -wide reduction in force (“RIF”).
The RIF, which occurred in the fall of 2009, was quite contentious; and this was
especially so because DCPS had hired more than 900 teachers in the preceding months,
many of whom were under the age of 40 and new to teaching (unlike many of the
veteran teachers who were terminated as part of the RIF). In 2014, Willis filed the
instant lawsuit against the District of Columbia (“the District”), claiming that the RIF
violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621, et
seq., and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., because
it targeted teachers on the basis of race and age and was, in fact, a pretext for the
unlawful removal of older, African-American teachers. 1 Willis’s pleading further
1
In the caption of his amended complaint, Willis identifies the Honorable Vincent Gray, former mayor
of the District of Columbia, as the defendant . (See Am. Compl., ECF No. 30, at 1.) However, Willis
refers to “the District” as the defendant throughout t he pleading (see, e.g., id. ¶ 25) and only mentions
Gray in the caption. Moreover, and in any event, “claims against [District] Officials in their official
capacities are effectively claims against the District[.]” Holmes-Ramsey v. Dist. of Columbia, 747 F.
alleges that the decision Willis’s supervisor made to discharge him in particular was
unlawful discrimination on the basis of his age and rage, and that, in the process of
implementing Willis’s discharge, the District also violated Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964, see 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq., and the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth
Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and District of Columbia common law.
Before this Court at present is the District’s motion to dismiss Willis’s amended
complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, filed pursuant to Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and Rule 56(c). (See Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss Am. Compl.,
or, in the Alternative, for Summ. J. (“Def.’s Mot.”), ECF No. 31.) For the reasons
explained fully below, this Court has concluded that the District’s motion to dismiss
Willis’s amended complaint must be GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
To the extent that Willis has brought Title VII and ADEA claims that challenge the
basis for the district-wide RIF and/or how the District implemented the RIF as a whole,
such claims must be dismissed as precluded by prior litigation. See Washington
Teachers’ Union Local #6 v. Rhee (“WTU Local”), No. 2009 CA 007482 B (D.C. Sup.
Ct. 2012). But the aspect of Willis’s Title VII and ADEA claims that main tains that he
was specifically selected for termination for discriminatory reasons can proceed.
Willis’s other constitutional, statutory, and common law claims are all subject to
dismissal on statutes of limitations grounds. A separate Order consistent w ith this
Memorandum Opinion will follow.
Supp. 2d 32, 42 (D.D.C. 2010). Therefore, this Court interprets Willis’s amended complaint as pleading
claims only against the District of Columbia.
2
I. BACKGROUND
A. Background Facts 2
1. Willis’s Employment With DCPS
Willis is a African-American man who, according to the amended complaint,
began his career with DCPS in 1985 as a biology and mathematics teacher and was 51
years old at the time his employment was terminated. (See Am. Compl., ECF No. 30,
¶¶ 28, 35.) Willis began teaching at Frank W. Ballou High School in 1886; he received
tenure there in 1989. (See id. ¶ 28.) Willis allegedly taught regular and Advanced
Placement (“AP”) biology and was Ballou High School’s only certified AP biology
teacher from 1988 until his termination in 2009. (See id. ¶ 5.) According to the
amended complaint, Willis also received satisfactory performance evaluations
throughout his decades of teaching with DCPS (see id. ¶ 61), and he once even received
an award from President Bill Clinton “for his services as a teacher at Ballou [High
School]” (id. ¶ 9).
2. The 2009 DCPS Reduction In Force
On October 2, 2009, Ballou High School’s principal, Rahman Branch, notified
Willis that his teaching position had been selected for elimination as part of a district -
wide RIF. (See id. ¶¶ 29, 62.) The following day, Willis received a letter from DCPS
Chancellor Michelle Rhee, confirming that his position would be as part of the RIF.
(See id. ¶ 30.) The District officially terminated Willis from DCPS on November 2,
2009. (See id. ¶¶ 62, 87.) According to Willis’s complaint, the only two other science
2
The facts recited herein, which are generally undisputed, are drawn from Willis’s amended complaint ,
which must be accepted as true for the purpose of the Court’s analysis of the District’s motion to dismiss .
See, e.g., Suarez v. Colvin, 140 F. Supp. 3d 94, 99 (D.D.C. 2015) (citation omitted) .) Also, where noted,
the Court has relied upon the parties’ briefs and exhibits.
3
teachers at Ballou High School who were selected for the RIF were African American
and over the age of 45. (See id. ¶ 45.)
Willis specifically alleges that “Rhee, Branch[,] and others were using the RIF as
a cover for their actual motive and purpose of terminating older black American
teachers [such] as Mr. Willis on the basis of their age and race,” and that “they
intentionally and deliberately[] engineered [the] ‘RIF Criteria’ in a way calculated to
earn veteran teachers like Mr. Willis fewer or no weighted points, and to rob them [of]
the very best thing they had going for them—their long-term service and tenure[.]” (Id.
¶ 37.) Willis’s amended complaint also repeatedly assails the District’s implementation
of the RIF district-wide. In this regard, Willis contends that the District hired 946 new
employees in the months before the RIF (see id. ¶ 5), and that the RIF was a “guise” for
implementing a district-wide “‘change of workforce’ and elimination of black veteran
teachers like Mr. Willis” (id. ¶ 54).
With respect to its description of how the District accomplished the allegedly
discriminatory RIF, the amended complaint asserts that DCPS mandated that four
criteria “were to be considered in determining which positions would be abolished” as
part of the RIF:
a. [s]ignificant relevant contributions, accomplishments, or performance;
b. [r]elevant supplemental professional experiences as demonstrated on the
job[;]
c. [o]ffice or school needs including: curriculum specialized education,
degrees, licenses[,] or areas of expertise; and
d. [l]ength of service.
(Id. ¶ 32.) Willis’s amended complaint further alleges that these factors “were [then]
manipulated and misused[,]” and that “the purported ‘competitive process’ used for
selecting individual job[s] was a ruse[.]” (Id.) With respect to Willis in particular,
4
Principal Branch allegedly ranked Willis with “a score of 5% out of a 100, [which] was
outrageously lower than teachers in [Willis’s] competitive level who were uncertified,[]
had less ‘supplemental professional experience,’ and knew less about and had
participated less in addressing the needs of students [and] their parents, DCPS in
general, and . . . Ballou High School.” (Id. ¶ 33; see also id. ¶¶ 39–40 (listing examples
of alleged “lies” contained in Willis’s competitive level evaluation).) According to the
amended complaint, Branch further justified his poor evaluation of Willis by citing
Willis’s “negative attitude[,]” which was allegedly said to be based on Willis’s having
“align[ed] himself with teachers that foster conflict and resistance to implementing the
school improvement plan.” (Id. ¶ 41.) In addition to alleging that Branch had
“discriminatory motives of age[] and race” with respect to his evaluation of Willis (id.
¶ 35), the amended complaint also asserts that Branch’s evaluation of Willis “was
retaliatory, because . . . Mr. Willi[s] accused [Branch] of [m]ismanaging [f]ederal
[f]unds and donated funds” (id. ¶ 8).
B. Procedural History
Willis filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission on October 6, 2010 (see id. ¶ 49); he received a notice of his right to sue
on July 22, 2014 (see id. ¶ 66). He then timely filed the instant lawsuit. (See Compl.,
ECF No. 1.) On April 23, 2015, the District filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or,
in the alternative, for summary judgment (see ECF No. 12). The District’s motion
apparently prompted Willis to file a motion seeking leave from this Court to file an
amended complaint (see ECF No. 27), which the Court granted (see Min. Order of Sept.
15, 2015). Willis filed the operative amended complaint on October 1, 2015 . (See Am.
Compl., ECF No. 30).
5
Willis’s amended complaint has eleven counts. Counts I and II claim age
discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”),
29 U.S.C. § 621, et seq. (See id. ¶¶ 99–100 (Count I); id. ¶¶ 101–05 (Count II).)
Counts III and IV allege race discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. (See id. ¶¶ 106–09 (Count III); id.
¶¶ 110–14 (Count IV).) Counts V, VI, and VIII—which are brought pursuant to section
1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code—allege violations of Willis’s constitutional
rights of freedom of speech, due process, and equal protection violations. (See id.
¶¶ 115–31 (Count V, Free Speech and Due Process); id. ¶¶ 132–36 (Count VI, Equal
Protection); id. ¶¶ 153–57 (Count VIII, Equal Protection).) Count VII-1 alleges race
discrimination under federally assisted programs in violation of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq. (See id. ¶¶ 137–43.) 3
Finally, Counts VII-2, IX, and X allege District of Columbia common-law violations.
(See id. ¶¶ 144–52 (Count VII-2, Defamation); id. ¶¶ 158–64 (Count IX, Wrongful
Termination in Violation of Public Policy); id. ¶¶ 165–71 (Count X, Intentional
Infliction of Emotional Distress).)
On October 2, 2015, the District filed a renewed motion to dismiss the amended
complaint or, in the alternative, for summary judgment, which argues that all of Willis’s
claims fail for various reasons. (Def.’s Mot. at 1.) Specifically, the District asserts that
the doctrine of res judicata bars Willis’s claims of age and race discrimination (Counts I
through IV), because “[f]ive years ago, [Willis’s] union brought (and ultimately lost) a
3
Willis’s amended complaint includes two counts numbered as “Count VII.” ( See Am. Compl. at 47,
49.) For clarity, this Court will refer to the first as Count VII -1 and second as “Count VII-2.”
6
case on his behalf that was based on the same age [ and race] discrimination
allegation[s] that [Willis] makes here.” (Id. at 1–2.) 4 The District further maintains
that this Court “lacks jurisdiction to determine whether the RIF was properly
implemented[,]” because “only the Office of Employee Appeals [] has jurisdiction to
consider whether an agency properly implemented RIF procedures.” ( Id. at 2.) And the
District also challenges each of the remaining claims based on the applicable statutes of
limitations (see id. at 3) and on pleading-defect grounds (see, e.g., id. at 2–4 (“Plaintiff
cannot maintain a claim under the First Amendment . . . because he does not allege a
statement of public concern” and “Plaintiff’s defamation allegations . . . fail because
the alleged statements are privileged and his allegations are fatally vague.”)) .
Willis responds that his ADEA age discrimination claims and Title VII race
discrimination claims are not precluded, mainly because he views the prior union
litigation as concerning whether or not “Defendants’ 2009 RIF was . . . planned[] or
executed in accordance with the laws authorizing it” (Pl.’s Mem. in Supp. of Pl.’s
Opp’n to Def.’s Mot. (“Pl.’s Opp’n”), ECF No. 33-4, at 19); by contrast, according to
Willis, the particular allegation here is that, “in implementing their so-called RIF,” the
District acted with a discriminatory motive, such that “the whole RIF construct, and
implementation[,] was orchestrated to ensure that the RIF adversely impacted Mr.
Willis and . . . similarly situated []science[] teachers” (id. at 19–20). Willis also
maintains that he has cited to and referenced the District’s improper implementation of
the RIF as a whole only “to explain and expand his discrimination claim to the Court”
4
Page-number citations to the documents that the parties have filed refer to the page numbers that the
Court’s electronic filing system automatically assigns.
7
(id. at 20; see also Compl. ¶ 117 (alleging that Willis “was removed from his position
with DCPS because of his race[,]” and that, because he was intentionally “evaluated
under the wrong code[,]” he was “falsely and dishonestly ranked” under the RIF
criteria, causing him to lose his job). Willis defends his remaining claims on the merits
(see id. at 20–30, 30–36, 38–39), and insists that all of his claims are timely (see id.
at 30, 36–38). The District’s motion is now ripe for decision.
II. LEGAL STANDARDS FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS UNDER FEDERAL
RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 12(b)(6)
The District’s motion seeks dismissal of Willis’s complaint or, in the alternative,
summary judgment in the District’s favor. (See Def.’s Mot. at 1.) A review of the
substance of the District’s arguments readily reveals that each of its assertions is
actually in the nature of an argument about the defectiveness of Willis’s pleading
and/or this Court’s inability to grant the relief that Willis seeks. (See, e.g., id. at 1
(“Plaintiff’s age discrimination claim is barred by doctrine of issue preclusion .”); id. at
4 (“Plaintiff’s defamation allegations . . . fail because the alleged statements are
privileged and his allegations are fatally vague.”).) Therefore, notwithstanding its
alternative request for summary judgment, the District’s motion is properly construed as
a motion seeking only the dismissal of Willis’s amended complaint pursuant to Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). 5
A motion under Rule 12(b)(6) raises the question of whether the complaint
contains “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is
5
The District has submitted materials for the Court to review with respect to its res judicata contention
(see Mem. in Supp. of Def.’s Mot. (“Def.’s Mem.”), ECF No. 31-1, at 17–19 (citing to Exhibits 2 and
3)), and thus appears to be proceeding pursuant to a belief that a party has to request resolution under
Rule 56 (and Rule 12(d)), in order for the district court to be able to take into account facts beyond the
8
plausible on its face[.]” Harris v. D.C. Water & Sewer Auth., 791 F.3d 65, (D.C. Cir.
2015) (quotation marks and citation omitted). The key to making this evaluation is
determining whether the allegations in the complaint are in themselves sufficient to
permit a “reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct
alleged[.]” Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano, 563 U.S. 27, 46 (2011) (quotation
marks and citations omitted). Thus, the “court must accept as true all of the [factual]
allegations contained in a complaint[,]” Harris, 791 F.3d at 68 (quotation marks and
citation omitted), and must draw all reasonable factual inferences in the non-movant’s
favor, see Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009). These tenets are “inapplicable
to legal conclusions.” Harris, 791 F.3d at 68. Rule 12(b)(6) “places th[e] burden on
the moving party” to show that the complaint is legally insufficient. Cohen v. Bd. of
Trustees of the Univ. of the Dist. of Columbia, 819 F.3d 476, 481 (D.C. Cir. 2016)
(citing 5B Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure §
1357 (3d ed. 2015)).
When a court considers a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the scope of its
review generally does not extend beyond the pleadings. See Ward v. D.C. Dep’t of
Youth Rehab. Servs., 768 F. Supp. 2d 117, 119–20 (D.D.C. 2011). However, a court
deciding a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss may take judicial notice of other any public
four corners of the complaint in the context of a res judicata argument. But t he D.C. Circuit has concluded
that “[r]es judicata is an affirmative defense[,]” Stanton v. D.C. Court of Appeals, 127 F.3d 72, 76 (D.C.
Cir. 1997), and that a “district court [may] correctly dismiss[] [a] complaint under the doctrine of res
judicata[,]” Holloway v. Scott, 767 F. App’x 13, 14 (D.C. Cir. 2019). This is especially so when “the
identity of the two [legal] actions can be determined from the face of the [complaint] itself.” Potamitis
v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 82 F.2d 472, 473 (8th Cir. 1936). And, here, this Court can take judicial
notice of the WTU Local in order to address a motion that seeks dismissal on res judicata grounds. See,
e.g., Boling v. United States Parole Commission , 290 F. Supp. 3d 37, 45 (D.D.C. 2017). In any event,
this Court routinely declines to convert Rule 12(b) motions to dismiss into Rule 56 .
9
records from other court proceedings, see Chamber of Commerce v. Reich, 897 F. Supp.
570, 574 n.4 (D.D.C. 1995), rev’d on other grounds, 74 F.3d 1322 (D.C. Cir. 1996),
which the court then considers in addition to the facts contained in the pleadings, s ee
Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007) (citation
omitted). Notably for present purposes, the judicial -notice practice can be
consequential if a defendant argues that the plaintiff’s complaint fails to state a claim
upon which relief can be granted on res judicata grounds. See, e.g., Hemphill v.
Kimberly-Clark Corp., 605 F. Supp. 2d 183, 186 (D.D.C. 2009) (taking judicial notice
of public records from other proceedings in evaluating whether res judicata barred the
plaintiff’s claims); Sieverding v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 847 F. Supp. 2d 75, 81 (D.D.C.
2012) (taking judicial notice of a court’s own records when considering whether res
judicata barred the plaintiffs’ claims).
III. ANALYSIS
Willis’s amended complaint is not a model of clarity. However, as Willis
explains, the “gist of [the] contention and claims in his Amended Complaint and
attachments thereto” is that the District acted in a discriminatory manner with respect to
its “treatment of its older and black employees[] during implementation of their so -
called budgetary-reason-based RIF, in 2009, [and] particularly the Plaintiff Mr.
Willis[.]” (Pl.’s Opp’n at 1.) Willis also complains about the manner in which he was
evaluated under the RIF criteria and was thereby personally selected for termination.
(See Am. Compl. ¶ 9.) Willis’s complaint thus appears to challenge Willis’s
termination from DCPS on three fronts: (1) that the “so-called budgetary[]reason[s]”
behind the RIF were, in fact, pretext for illegal discrimination against older, African -
10
American employees; (2) that the District carried out the RIF in a discriminatory
manner that targeted older, African-American employees; and (3) that Ballou High
School’s principal selected Willis for the RIF because he was older and African
American. (Pl.’s Opp’n at 1–2). With respect to Willis’s particular selection for the
RIF by Principal Branch, Willis also maintains that his termination was in retaliation
for his having engaged in speech of public concern protected under the First
Amendment; that Branch denied him a pre-termination hearing in violation of the Due
Process Clause; and that Branch committed common-law torts in the process of
implementing the RIF at Ballou High School. (See id. at 29–30.)
As explained fully below, this Court concludes that only the discrimination
claims that pertain to his inclusion in the RIF survive the District’s motion to dismiss,
and even then, only partially so. Specifically, to the extent that Willis’s amended
complaint challenges either the basis for the RIF or how the District implemented the
RIF as a whole, such claims must be dismissed as precluded by the District of Columbia
Superior Court decision in WTU Local. (See Super. Ct. Order in Union Litigation
(“Union Litig. Op.”), ECF No. 31-5 at 2–12.) Furthermore, the Section 1983, Title VI,
and common law claims that Willis has brought based on the procedures that DCPS
employed to implement his own selection and termination must be dismissed because
the applicable statutes of limitations bar these claims. But to the extent Willis’s
amended complaint alleges that Principal Branch’s specific selection of Willis for the
RIF was discriminatory in violation of Title VII and the ADEA, there is federal court
jurisdiction and those particular claims are not precluded. Therefore, this one aspect of
Counts I through IV of Willis’s amended complaint will be permitted to proceed.
11
A. The Claims in Willis’s Complaint That Challenge Why And How The
RIF Was Undertaken As A Whole Must Be Dismissed On Res Judicata
Grounds
1. Res Judicata Is Implicated When A Prior Legal Action Between
The Same Parties Raises The Same Issues Or The Same (Or
Related) Claims
“Generally speaking, res judicata is a well-settled doctrine pursuant to which
courts preclude parties from contesting matters that they have had a full and fair
opportunity to litigate[,] and thereby protect their adversaries from the expense and
vexation attending multiple lawsuits, conserve judicial resources, and foster reliance on
judicial action by minimizing the possibility of inconsistent decisions.” Brewer v. Dist.
of Columbia, 105 F. Supp. 3d 74, 84–85 (D.D.C. 2015) (internal quotation marks and
alteration omitted) (citing Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 153–54 (1979)).
Federal courts “must give to a state-court judgment the same preclusive effect as would
be given that judgment under the law of the State in which the judgment was
rendered[,]” Migra v. Warren City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 465 U.S. 75, 81 (1984), and
this same preclusive treatment is afforded to prior determinations of the District of
Columbia courts.
At a more granular level, res judicata refers to two different doctrines: claim
preclusion and issue preclusion. See Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880, 892 (2008).
“Under the doctrine of claim preclusion, a final judgment forecloses successive
litigation of the very same claim, whether or not relitigation of the claim raises the
same issues as the earlier suit[.]” Id. at 892 (internal quotation marks and citation
omitted) (emphasis added). “Issue preclusion, in contrast, bars successive litigation of
an issue of fact or law actually litigated and resolved in a valid court determination
essential to the prior judgment, even if the issue recurs in the context of a different
12
claim[.]” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). While the gist of claim
preclusion is “identity of claims and identity of parties[,]” Patton v. Klein, 746 A.2d
866, 870 (D.C. 1999) (per curiam), it is well established that, so long as issue
preclusion would “not work an unfairness,” once an issue is “actually and necessarily
determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, that determination is conclusive in
subsequent suits based on a different cause of action involving a party to the prior
litigation[,]” Vandivere v. Lynch, 279 F. Supp. 3d 20, 25 (D.D.C. 2017) (quotation
marks omitted) (citing Montana, 440 U.S. at 153); see also Otherson v. Dep’t of
Justice, I.N.S., 711 F.2d 267, 273 (D.C. Cir. 1983). As a practical matter, the
application of res judicata means that a subsequent court in a different context “does
not review the merits of the determinations in the earlier litigation.” Consol. Edison
Co. of N.Y. v. Bodman, 449 F.3d 1254, 1257 (D.C. Cir. 2006) (citation omitted).
Since they both are species of res judicata, claim preclusion and issue preclusion
have similar tests that substantially overlap. The claim-preclusion inquiry in the
District of Columbia focuses on: “‘(1) whether the claim was adjudicated finally in the
first action; (2) whether the present claim is the same as the claim which was raised or
which might have been raised in the prior proceeding; and (3) whether the party against
whom the plea is asserted was a party or in privity with a party in the prior ca se.’”
Peterson v. Washington Teachers Union, 192 A.3d 572, 575 (D.C. 2018) (quoting
Calomiris v. Calomiris, 3 A.3d 1186, 1190 (D.C. 2012)). When issue preclusion is
considered, courts in the District of Columbia prohibit “the re-litigation of issues
determined in a prior action where (1) the issue was actually litigated [and] (2) was
determined by a valid, final judgment on the merits[,] (3) after a full and fair
13
opportunity for litigation by the party [and] (4) under circumstances where the
determination was essential to the judgment.” DeWitt v. Dist. of Columbia, 43 A.3d
291, 300 (D.C. 2012) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Thus, there can
be no claim or issue preclusion without a prior, actual, and full litigation that resulted
in a final judgment, or without identity between the disputing parties (or individuals
within which they are in privity) in the cases at issue. See Smith v. Jenkins, 562 A.2d
610, 613, 617 (D.C. 1989); see also Jewish War Veterans of the United States of Am.,
Inc. v. Mattis, 266 F. Supp. 3d 248, 252 (D.D.C. 2017) (“A decision’s preclusive effect
(whether claim preclusion or issue preclusion) bars future litigation of that same cause
of action or of the same issue of law or fact litigated between the same parties. ”).
Significantly for present purposes, claim preclusion extends not only to the
particular claims that were actually brought and fully litigated in a prior proceeding,
but also to claims that could have been —and, thus, should have been—brought in the
context of the prior case. See Short v. D.C. Dep’t of Employment Servs., 723 A.2d 845,
849 (D.C. 1998) (“[T]he doctrine of claim preclusion will operate to prevent the same
parties from relitigation of not only those matters actually litig ated but also those which
might have been litigated in the first proceeding.”) (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted). This aspect of res judicata functions as “a rule against claim
splitting[,]” Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y., 445 F.3d at 450, because it requires parties to
bring all of the claims that they intend to litigate in the first instance, rather than
presenting them to various courts at various times, see Stone v. Dep’t of Aviation, 453
F.3d 1271, 1278 (10th Cir. 2006) (“A plaintiff's obligation to bring all related claims
together in the same action arises under the common-law rule of claim preclusion
14
prohibiting the splitting of actions” (citation omitted)). A claim “might have been
raised” in a prior litigation if it arises “out of the same transaction” at issue in the prior
dispute and out of “a common nucleus of facts[,]” regardless of whether the theories of
the two cases differ. Patton, 746 A.2d at 870 (internal quotation marks and citations
omitted). To determine whether a subsequent claim arises from the same factual
nucleus as a previously litigated claim, the Court must “consider the nature of the two
actions, the facts necessary to prove each and whether the facts are related in time,
space, origin, or motivation, whether they form a convenient trial unit, and whether
their treatment as a unit conforms to the parties’ expectations or business understanding
or usage.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
In light of these long-settled requirements, and as explained fully below, it is
clear to this Court that Willis is in privity with the union that previously challenged the
RIF in Superior Court on the grounds that it was pretextual, and the Superior Court
judge who was assigned to the union’s case fully and finally adjudicated its claims. As
a result, this Court finds that the essential prerequisites for preclusion—i.e., the identity
of the parties and claims/issues that were previously fully adjudicated —are met. And,
ultimately, the Court further finds that issue preclusion bars Willis from proceeding
with respect to any claim that challenges the basis for the District’s decision to
implement the RIF as a whole, and claim preclusion bars Willis from proceeding with
respect to any claim that challenges how the District designed and carried out the RIF
as a general matter.
15
2. Willis’s Union Previously Challenged The District’s RIF As
Pretextual, And The Superior Court Finally Adjudicated That
Dispute
At the outset, this Court takes judicial notice of the fact that, on October 9, 2009,
seven days after Willis allegedly received notice that his position would be terminated
as part of a district-wide RIF, the Washington Teachers Union Local #6 (“the
Union”)—on behalf approximately 200 other DCPS teachers, including Willis—filed a
lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia challenging the RIF. See
WTU Local, No. 2009 CA 007482 B. In that case, the Union claimed that “DCPS[ ’s]
attempt to disguise this mass discharge as a ‘RIF’ caused by a ‘budget shortfall’ is
clearly a pretextual attempt to sidestep the [Union’s collective bargaining agreement]
and to discharge a substantial number of veteran teachers[.]” (Ex. 1 to Def.’s Mot.,
ECF No. 31-4, at 3–4.) The Union thus argued that the RIF was not a true RIF at all,
but a mass discharge of older teachers that allowed the District to avoid the procedural
requirements of the Union’s collective bargaining agreement with DCPS. Among other
relief, the Union sought to enjoin the teachers’ terminations pending arbitration
pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement. (See id. at 7–9.) The Superior Court
denied the Union’s request for an injunction (see Ex. 3 to Def.’s Mot., ECF No. 31-6, at
2) and, on September 7, 2012, granted summary judgment in favor of the District,
finding that, “based on the undisputed material facts in the record, the RIF was
undertaken in the fall of 2009 in response to a budget shortfall, and it was indeed a
RIF” (Union Litig. Op. at 5).
It is evident on the face of the complaint that Willis’s union actually and fully
litigated legal claims concerning the allegedly pretextual nature of the District’s RIF,
and that Willis is in privity with the plaintiff in the WTU Local litigation. Moreover,
16
there is no dispute that, in WTU Local, there was “a final judgment on the merits[,]”
Tabman v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 722 F. Supp. 2d 113, 115 (D.D.C. 2010), that was
reached “after a full and fair opportunity for litigation[,]” DeWitt, 42 A.3d at 300, with
respect to a case that had “embodie[d] all of a party’s rights arising out of the
transaction involved,” Parker v. Martin, 905 A.2d 756, 762 (D.C. 2006) (internal
quotation marks and citations omitted). Moreover, Willis can be deemed to have been a
party to the WTU Local litigation against the District of Columbia, because his
“interests [were] represented by a party to [the] action,” Carr v. Rose, 701 A.2d 1065,
1075 (D.C. 1997) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), and he had a “pre-
existing substantive legal relationship” with the Union, which was “party to [that]
judgment[,]” EDCare Mgmt., Inc. v. DeLisi, 50 A.3d 448, 451 (D.C. 2012) (internal
quotation marks and citation omitted); see Adams v. Pension Ben. Guar. Corp., 332 F.
Supp. 2d 231, 238 n.8 (D.D.C. 2004) (“Courts have recognized that unions are in
privity with their membership for the purposes of res judicata.” ); Hitchens v. County of
Montgomery, 98 Fed. App’x 106, 114 (3d Cir. 2004) (noting that “a decision against a
union can bind union members in a subsequent action” ) (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted). Therefore, WTU Local qualifies as a previous final judgment on the
merits, following a full litigation by a party in privity with Willis.
3. Willis’s Challenge That The District Created The RIF For
Discriminatory Reasons Is Issue Precluded, And Willis’s Claim
That The District Carried Out The RIF As A Whole In A
Discriminatory Manner Is Claim Precluded
Turning to the remaining requirements for preclusion based on prior litigation, i t
is evident on the face of the complaint that Willis’s union “actually litigated” one of the
issues that Willis now seeks to have this Court analyze—i.e., whether the District
17
implemented the RIF because of budgetary reasons, or whether it did so because of age
discrimination. It is also clear that Willis’s contention that the District carried out the
RIF in a manner that targeted older African-American employees (i.e., that the RIF was
implementated in a discriminatory manner) was a claim that “might have been raised”
in the WTU Local case. Therefore, irrespective of which reading of Willis’s complaint
is accurate, res judicata bars his district-wide challenges to the RIF.
In WTU Local, the Superior Court determined that “the RIF was implemented in
response to a shortfall that had been created in the DCPS budget” (Union Litig. Op. at
4), and that “[t]he undisputed facts in the record in no way support [the] claim” that the
RIF was “a pretext for terminating more senior teachers” (id. at 5 n.3). Thus, the
question of whether the District’s motivation for the RIF was budgetary, or instead
discriminatory, has previously been asked and answered by a court of competent
jurisdiction, and, indeed, as this Court previously concluded in a prior analogous case,
“the nature of DCPS’s 2009 employment action—valid RIF or pretext for mass
discriminatory discharge?—was ‘properly raised, by the pleadings or otherwise, and
was submitted for determination.’” Brewer v. Dist. of Columbia, 105 F. Supp. 3d 74,
87 (D.D.C. 2015) (alterations omitted) (internal citation omitted).
It is also clear that “the Superior Court considered (and ultimately rejected) [the
Union’s] pretext allegation” in a manner that “was essential to its ruling that the
defendants were entitled to summary judgment[,]” id. at 87–88; and “as a court of
competent jurisdiction, the Superior Court’s determination that the 2009 employment
action was a valid RIF undertaken for budgetary reasons . . . was valid and final[,]” id.
at 88. This Court also has no doubt that the Union (and therefore Willis, whom the
18
Union represented during WTU Local) had a full and fair opportunity to litigate whether
the RIF was in fact a mass discriminatory discharge. See Brewer, 105 F. Supp. 3d at 90
(“It is clear that [the Union], on behalf of its members, had the chance to present
witnesses, introduce exhibits, challenge contrary evidence, make statements, and
receive a determination of the facts and the law[.]”). Thus, to the extent that the instant
amended complaint claims that the so-called budgetary-reason-based RIF was, in fact, a
discriminatory-reason-based discharge of older and African-American teachers, Willis’s
challenge is plainly precluded.
Willis’s insistence that WTU Local does not preclude his challenge because the
Superior Court did not consider the ADEA specifically, or race discrimination at all
(see Pl.’s Opp’n at 6, 17), is misplaced. First, it makes no difference whether the Union
invoked the ADEA in WTU Local, for “it is clear beyond cavil that for preclusion
purposes, an ‘issue’ is not limited to a ‘cause of action.’” Brewer, 105 F. Supp. 3d at
89 (internal quotation marks, citation, and alteration omitted). It similarly makes no
difference that “[t]he word ‘age’ was never mentioned in the [ Union’s] Complaint”
(Pl.’s Opp’n at 7); or that the Superior Court’s decision “has no mention whatsoever of
the words, ‘discrimination,’ ‘age’ or ‘age discrimination’” (id.); or that the Superior
Court did not specifically consider whether the RIF was a pretext for a mass discharge
on the basis of race as opposed to age. The Superior Court indisputably found that
“[t]he undisputed facts in the record in no way support” the Union’s claim that the RIF
was “a pretext for terminating more senior teachers who otherwise could not have been
discharged.” (Union Litig. Op. at 5 n.3.) And “what matters to proper preclusion
analysis under these circumstances is whether the parties in the subsequent case have
19
posed a significant issue of fact that was already asked, considered, and answered by a
court of competent jurisdiction in a previous lawsuit.” Brewer, 105 F. Supp. 3d at 89
(citation omitted). And, consistent with this contention, and with what other courts
have held in similar cases, WTU Local and Willis’s complaint “both rest on the same
disputed factual issue—whether the 2009 terminations were a RIF because they were
predicated on budget necessity or a mass discriminatory discharge of veteran teachers —
and . . . the Superior Court reached and resolved that issue.” Id. (internal citations
omitted); see also Proctor v. Dist. of Columbia, 74 F. Supp. 3d 436, 454 (D.D.C. 2014)
(“The plaintiff’s ADEA . . . claim[] . . . require[s] proof that DCPS’s stated justification
for her removal was pretextual. . . . The prior WTU Litigation already determined this
precise issue[.]”).
If Willis’s claim is that, regardless of the motive, “[w]hen Defendants
implemented their 2009 ‘budgetary’ RIF, they did it in a discriminatory manner,” (Am.
Compl. ¶ 103, Count II (emphasis added); see also id. ¶ 112, Count IV), then claim
preclusion bars that challenge, because it appears that that claim could have been
brought in the WTU Local lawsuit. As noted above, “the doctrine of claim preclusion
will operate to prevent the same parties from relitigation of not only those matters
actually litigated but also those which might have been li tigated in the first
proceeding.” Short v. D.C. Dep’t of Employment Servs., 723 A.2d 845, 849 (D.C. 1998)
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted). A claim might have been raised in the
prior litigation for the purpose of this doctrine if it arises “out of the same transaction”
that was at issue in the prior dispute and out of “a common nucleus of facts,” regardless
of whether the theories of the two cases differ. Patton, 746 A.2d at 870 (internal
20
quotation marks and citations omitted). In the instant case, the “nucleus of facts”
underlying WTU Local is the same as the facts that pertain to Willis’s claim in this
Court that the District carried out the 2009 RIF in a discriminatory manner, and the
allegation that the District of Columbia created the 2009 RIF with a discriminatory
intent (i.e., the claim in WTU Local) is necessarily intertwined with a claim that the
District implemented the 2009 RIF in a discriminatory fashion. Cf. Wynn v. Union
Local 237, I.B.T., 2019 WL 6799629, at *2 (2d Cir. Dec. 13, 2019) (holding that a prior
ruling finding no disparate treatment or discriminatory intent barred a subsequent
lawsuit bringing a disparate impact claim). Willis’s claim against the district-wide
discriminatory implementation of the RIF is, therefore, the type of claim that might
have been raised in WTU Local such that res judicata precludes it.
B. The ADEA And Title VII Discrimination Claims that Challenge
Principal Branch’s Decision To Include Willis In The RIF Survive
Dismissal
Although the aspects of Willis’s complaint that challenge the District’s decision
to adopt a RIF procedure and its implementation of the RIF as a whole are precluded for
the reasons laid out above, the Court concludes that Willis’s claim that Principal Branch
unlawfully decided to include him in the RIF, in particular, because of age-based and
race-based discrimination can proceed. The WTU Local litigation most certainly did
not settle the issue of whether Principal Branch included Willis in the RIF with
discriminatory intent. Nor could the Union reasonably have litigated Willis’s
individual claim concerning the circumstances of his selection when it undertook to
challenge the validity of the RIF district-wide.
To be sure, there is some overlap between the operative nuclei of facts in
Willis’s pleading and those in WTU Local, insofar as both concern the 2009 RIF. But
21
when this Court “consider[s] the nature of the two actions, [and] the facts necessary to
prove each[,]” Patton, 746 A.2d at 870 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted),
WTU Local and Willis’s instant claims about his mistreatment as a part of the RIF
process are plainly distinct actions that must be resolved by distinct factual and legal
findings. For example, there a two different actors allegedly at fault: WTU Local dealt
with the District’s decision to implement the RIF within the school district, while
Willis’s lawsuit alleges that—even if the District’s decision to implement the RIF was
lawful—the Ballou High School principal included Willis in the RIF for unlawful
reasons. Moreover, WTU Local and Willis’s lawsuit would not have “form[ed] a
convenient trial unit,” Patton, 746 A.2d at 870, for Willis’s claims are specific to his
particular circumstances at Ballou High School while WTU Local focused, instead, on
the district-wide RIF. Thus, as it pertains to Willis’s individualized claims of
discriminatory treatment, this Court concludes that res judicata does not bar Willis’s
individual claims. See, e.g., Haughton v. Dist. of Columbia, 315 F.R.D. 424 (D.D.C.),
objections overruled, 161 F. Supp. 3d 100 (D.D.C. 2014) (proceeding to trial with
respect to a claim that the plaintiff’s principal unlawfully included him in the 2009 RIF
because he had a learning disability and required accommodation).
The District contends that this Court should dismiss Willis’s individual Title VII
and ADEA claims regardless, because “[o]nly the Office of Employee Appeals . . . has
jurisdiction to consider whether an agency properly implemented RIF procedures .”
(Def.’s Mot. at 21). This argument is meritless. The Office of Employee Appeals
(“OEA”) is an independent agency of the District government created by the
Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act (“CMPA”), see D.C. Code § 1–601.01 et seq., that
22
is empowered to “[h]ear and adjudicate appeals received from District agencies and
from employees[,]” id. § 1–606.02(a)(2), regarding final agency decisions, including
RIFs, id. § 1–606.03(a). With few exceptions—which happen to apply in this case—the
CMPA is the exclusive remedy for a District of Columbia public employee who has a
work-related complaint of any kind. See Stockard v. Moss, 706 A.2d 561, 564 (D.C.
1997). And it is true that “numerous courts in this Circuit have concluded that they
lack jurisdiction to entertain employment-related claims brought by District employees
that fall within the province of the CMPA.” McManus v. Dist. of Columbia, 530 F.
Supp. 2d 46, 78 (D.D.C. 2007) (collecting cases). But it is also clear that “[l]ying
outside the scope of CMPA preemption . . . are claims of workplace discrimination,
including sexual harassment, brought under the D.C. Human Rights Act.” Dickerson v.
Dist. of Columbia, 70 F. Supp. 3d 311, 320–21 (D.D.C. 2014) (citing Robinson v. Dist.
of Columbia, 748 A.2d 409, 411 (D.C. 2000); King v. Kidd, 640 A.2d 656, 664 (D.C.
1993)). And, of course, the CMPA—which is a District of Columbia law—cannot bar
District employees from pursuing relief for discrimination claims brought under federal
law. See Kelley v. Dist. of Columbia, 893 F. Supp. 2d 115, 119 n.1 (D.D.C. 2012).
Therefore, Willis’s claims that Principal Branch included him in the RIF for
discriminatory reasons in violation of the ADEA and Title VII is not the type of claim
that must (or even could) fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the OEA. And as
stated earlier, to the extent that such individual discrimination claims appear in Willis’s
complaint, res judicata principles do not prevent Willis from pressing them in the
instant case.
23
C. The Applicable Statutes Of Limitations Bar Willis’s Remaining
Claims
1. Counts V, VI, VII-1, and VIII (Section 1983 and Title VI Claims)
In Counts V, VI, VII, and VIII of the complaint, Willis alleges that the same
facts supporting his ADEA and Title VII claims in Counts I through IV also give rise to
a violation of his constitutional rights and, in this regard, he seeks redress under section
1983 of Title 42 of the United States Code and other federal statutory provisions. (See
Am. Compl. ¶¶ 115–43, 153–57.) For example, in Count V, Willis alleges that the
manner in which Branch supported Willis’s termination (e.g., writing false narratives
about Willis’s performance and complaining about Willis’s association with certain
other teachers) was a violation of Willis’s free speech and due process rights under the
First and Fourteenth Amendments. (See id. ¶¶ 119–120.) In Count VI (which appears
to duplicate Count VIII 6) Willis alleges that the RIF, “on its face and as it was applied
to him, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment [,]” insofar
as “[t]he whole process of the 2009 RIF was rigged, and the laws were not applied
fairly, justly and equally to older teachers[.]” (Id. ¶¶ 136, 157.) And in Count VII-1,
Willis alleges that Branch’s discriminatory actions in orchestrating his termination in
violation of the ADEA and Title VII also support a Title VI claim against the District
for discrimination by the recipient of federal financial assistance. (See id. ¶¶ 137–43.)
The District argues that the applicable statute of limitations bars all of these claims.
(See Def.’s Mot. at 30.) As explained below, this Court agrees with the District.
6
The Court will dismiss Count VIII because it is duplicative. See Wultz v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 755
F. Supp. 2d 1, 81–82 (D.D.C. 2010) (“If plaintiffs have pled any duplicative claims, the duplicates should
therefore be dismissed.”).
24
“When a federal action contains no statute of limitations, courts will ordinarily
look to analogous provisions in state law as a source of a federal limitations period.”
Doe v. Dep’t of Justice, 753 F.2d 1092, 1114 (D.C. Cir. 1985). “Since Section 1983
does not have a built-in statute of limitations, the general three-year statute of
limitations imposed by District of Columbia law on claims for personal injury, see D.C.
Code § 12-301(8), applies.” Proctor, 74 F. Supp. 3d at 457; see also Savage v. Dist. of
Columbia, No. 02-7135, 2003 WL 843326, at *1 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 25, 2003) (per curiam).
And just as with Section 1983, Title VI lacks its own statute of limitations ; thus,
“courts have borrowed the statute of limitations from . . . § 1983, which in turn[]
rel[ies] on the respective personal injury statute of limitations in a jurisdiction ”—and,
again, that limitations period is three years in the District of Columbia. Richards v.
Duke Univ., 480 F. Supp. 2d 222, 237–38 (D.D.C. 2007); see also Hajjar-Nejad v.
George Washington Univ., 873 F. Supp. 2d 1, 15 (D.D.C. 2012).
Willis filed the original complaint in this action on October 20, 2014, which was
nearly five years after his alleged termination. (See Am. Compl. ¶ 62). As a result, the
charged conduct falls outside the three-year limitations period applicable to the claims
in Counts V, VI, and VII such that these claims must be dismissed.
2. Counts VII-2, IX, and X (Common Law Claims)
Lastly, this Court must consider the common law violations that Willis alleges in
Counts VII-2, IX, and X, which arise under the Court’s supplemental jurisdiction. See
28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). 7 Willis alleges one count of defamation (Count VII-2), one count
7
Supplemental jurisdiction “is a doctrine of discretion, not a plaintiff’s right.” United Mine Workers v.
Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 726 (1966). “A district court may choose to retain jurisd iction over, or dismiss,
pendent state law claims after federal claims are dismissed.” Shekoyan v. Sibley Intern., 409 F.3d 414,
423 (D.C. Cir. 2005); see also 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). This Court has, in its “sound discretion[,]” elected
25
of wrongful termination in violation of public policy (Count IX), and one count of
intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count X), all arising under District of
Columbia law. (See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 144–52, ¶¶ 158–64, ¶¶ 165–71.) The District
maintains that the applicable limitations period bars each of these claims (see Def.’s
Mot. at 32–33), and here, again, the District is correct.
With respect to the first two common law contentions—defamation and wrongful
termination—Willis’s claims are plainly time-barred. In the District of Columbia, there
is a one-year statute of limitations for defamation claims pursuant to D.C. Code § 12-
301(4). See also Thompson v. Jasas Corp., 212 F. Supp. 2d 21, 26 (D.D.C. 2002).
“[T]he statute of limitations applicable to a claim of wrongful discharge in violation of
public policy is the three-year ‘catch-all’ statute of limitations set forth in D.C. Code §
12-301(8).” Kamen v. Int’l Brotherhood of Elec. Workers, 505 F. Supp. 2d 66, 78
(D.D.C. 2007). The RIF and Willis’s termination both occurred in 2009—in October
and November, respectively—which is five years prior to Willis’s filing of his initial
complaint. Thus, these events clearly fall outside of the statutory limitations period for
these common law claims.
Willis’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress (“IIED”) involves a
slightly more complex analysis as far as the statute of limitations is concerned, but the
Court ultimately reaches the same conclusion. Ordinarily, a claim of “intentional
infliction of emotional distress is subject to the District’s three -year residual limitation
period, D.C. Code § 12-301(8).” Rendall-Speranza v. Nassim, 107 F.3d 913, 920 (D.C.
to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Willis’ common law claims. Edmonson & Gallagher v. Alban
Towers Tenants Ass’n, 48 F.3d 1260, 1265–66 (D.C. Cir. 1995).
26
Cir. 1997); see also Saunders v. Nemati, 580 A.2d 660 (D.C. 1990). But it is well
established that, where an IIED claim “is intertwined with any of the causes of action
for which a period of limitation is specifically provided, [it] is subject to the limitation
period for the intertwined claim.” Rendall-Speranza, 107 F.3d at 920 (internal citations
and quotation marks omitted). Here, Willis’s complaint alleges “discrimination[] and
defamation” in Count X (Am. Compl. ¶ 166), thereby suggesting that his IIED claim is
“intertwined” with the discrimination causes of action that he has brought in this
lawsuit. Nevertheless, those discrimination claims are subject to a three-year statute of
limitations. See Proctor, 74 F. Supp. 3d at 457. Therefore, whether intertwined with his
discrimination claims or standing alone, Willis’s IIED claim is subject to a three-year
limitations period, and as a result, Willis’s Count X is also untimely.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the doctrine of res judicata precludes Willis’s ADEA
and Title VII challenges to the district-wide creation and implementation of the RIF.
By contrast, Willis’s claims that Ballou High School’s principal discriminated against
him in particular on the basis of his age and race are not precluded, and thus Willis may
proceed to litigate those Title VII and ADEA claims in this Court. All of Willis’s other
claims must be dismissed as untimely, given the applicable statutes of limitations.
Consequently, and as set forth in the accompanying Order, the District’s motion to
dismiss Willis’s complaint will be GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.
DATE: February 18, 2020 Ketanji Brown Jackson
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON
United States District Judge
27