Hedberg v. Darlington County

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

KATHY HEDBERG, Former Adult

Program Coordinator of Darlington

County Disabilities and Special Needs

Board; BERNICE KING; JOYCE T.

JACKSON; ELLA HAIGLER; DEBRA J.

SLATER; LYLA MITCHELL; JAMES

JACKSON; ALL OTHER EMPLOYEES

SIMILARLY SITUATED AT THE DARLINGTON

COUNTY DISABILITIES AND SPECIAL

NEEDS BOARD,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

and

CLAUDIA MCDANIEL; RUBY L. BUSH;

MINNIE MCCOY; EVELYN WILLIAMSON;

YVETTE MCPHAIL,

Plaintiffs, No. 95-3049

v.

DARLINGTON COUNTY DISABILITIES AND

SPECIAL NEEDS BOARD (SCOTT CENTER);

JUDY WESSINGER, Program

Administrator of the Darlington

County Disabilities and Special Needs

Board; TOM WITT, Executive Director

of the Darlington County Disabilities

and Special Needs Board; LOUISE R.

SCOTT, Former Executive Director of

the Darlington County Disabilities and

Special Needs Board; JEANETTE

RAMBO, Member of the Board of

Trustees of the Darlington County

Disabilities and Special Needs Board;

FAYE YARBOROUGH, Member of the

Board of Trustees of the Darlington

County Disabilities and Special Needs

Board; GLORIA WASHINGTON, Member

of the Board of Trustees of the

Darlington County Disabilities and

Special Needs Board; WILMAR DOVE,

Member of the Board of Trustees of

the Darlington County Disabilities and

Special Needs Board; GABRIELLA M.

MCWHITE, Member of the Board of

Trustees of the Darlington County

Disabilities and Special Needs Board;

ANN KING, Member of the Board of

Trustees of the Darlington County

Disabilities and Special Needs Board;

W. B. MCCOWN, Member of the

Board of Trustees of the Darlington

County Disabilities and Special Needs

Board; EDDIE F. PAULEY, Member of

the Board of Trustees of the

Darlington County Disabilities and

Special Needs Board,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of South Carolina, at Florence.

Cameron McGowan Currie, District Judge.

(CA-94-2467-4-22)

Submitted: October 10, 1997

Decided: December 24, 1997

Before HALL, WILKINS, and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges.

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2

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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COUNSEL

John Alexander Gaines, Sr., Florence, South Carolina, for Appellants.

Joseph P. McLean, CLARKE, JOHNSON, PETERSON &

MCLEAN, P.A., Florence, South Carolina, for Appellees.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

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OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Kathy Hedberg, and other Plaintiffs, sued the Darlington County

Disabilities and Special Needs Board and related Defendants (collec-

tively the "Board") alleging that they were illegally discriminated

against in their terms of employment. On appeal Plaintiffs allege that

the district court erred by: (1) barring their claims for damages on the

grounds of Eleventh Amendment immunity, and dismissing all Plain-

tiffs, except Hedberg; (2) denying their motion to amend the com-

plaint; and (3) denying Hedberg a jury trial. For the reasons that

follow, we affirm.

Hedberg, a Caucasian woman, was hired by the Board 1 as the Adult

Day Program Coordinator on February 15, 1994, and was terminated

on July 12, 1994, within her six month probationary period. In her ini-

tial complaint, Hedberg, a supervisor, alleged that she was terminated

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1 The Board "is the administrative, planning, coordinating, and service

delivery body" for Darlington County, South Carolina citizens with "dis-

abilities and special needs," including those with "mental retardation,

related disabilities, head injuries, and spinal cord injuries." S.C. Code

Ann. § 44-20-385 (Law Co-op Supp. 1996).

3

because she sought to treat her thirteen African-American employees

more equitably and the same as her Caucasian staff members. She

sought causes of action under 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 1981(a), 1983 (West

1994 & Supp. 1997). Thereafter, Hedberg filed a first amended and

then second amended complaint, each attempting to add additional

Plaintiffs but which failed to give any substantial factual basis for the

putative Plaintiffs' claims.2

After a hearing held July 7, 1995, the district court granted the

Board's motion for summary judgment in several respects.3 First, it

dismissed all claims brought by Plaintiffs except for Hedberg. The

court noted that the complaint, first amended complaint, and second

amended complaint primarily alleged that Hedberg was terminated

because of her efforts to assist African-American employees at the

Board. Conversely, the court found that the other Plaintiffs, which

Hedberg attempted to join, had claims varying in substance and time,

sought relief on various bases, and concluded that their factual allega-

tions were "vague and conclusionary as to the specific nature of each

of these Plaintiffs' allegations. They appear to have little similarity to

each other's or Plaintiff Hedberg's claims." 4 Thus, the court exercised

its discretion to dismiss Plaintiffs other than Hedberg. See Fed. R.

Civ. P. 19, 20. Second, with respect to Hedberg's claims, the court

dismissed all Defendants except Judy Wessinger, the Program

Administrator of the Board, and Tom Witt, Executive Director of the

Board. Because the court found that Hedberg's claims against Wess-

inger and Witt were based upon actions in their official capacities

only (they were her superiors), the court found the Eleventh Amend-

ment limited Hedberg to remedial relief only, i.e., reinstatement, pro-

spective injunctive relief, and attorney's fees.

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2 All other Plaintiffs, with the exception of Minnie McCoy, Evelyn

Williamson, and Debra J. Slater, were at the time the suit was filed cur-

rent African-American employees of the Board.

3 The parties have not provided the court with a transcript of the hear-

ing itself in the joint appendix (J.A.) but have included later materials in

which the district court explained its reasoning for the earlier ruling.

(J.A. at 244-47, 256-68).

4 (J.A. at 265).

4

Thereafter, counsel for Hedberg and the other Plaintiffs filed docu-

ments with the district court on August 23 and September 11, request-

ing that Hedberg be allowed to amend her complaint to add a claim

under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, that the

previously dismissed Plaintiffs be reinstated to pursue claims under

Title VII, and that the imminent trial be heard by a jury.5 The district

court denied the requested relief on the grounds that Plaintiffs had

previously sought, and the court had granted, discovery extensions

("leading to numerous revisions of the Scheduling Order"); the dis-

covery period had expired on May 28, 1995, and the case was to be

tried "within the next few weeks"; that to add claims under Title VII

and reinstate the formerly dismissed Plaintiffs"would greatly compli-

cate this case" and require yet another continuance because the parties

had engaged in no discovery with respect to Title VII claims; the

untimely motions would prejudice Defendants; and that the previ-

ously dismissed Plaintiffs were not needed for a just adjudication,

under Fed. R. Civ. P. 19, nor did their claims arise out of the same

factual transaction or occurrence as Hedberg, under Fed. R. Civ. P.

20.6

Hedberg, limited to equitable relief, proceeded to a bench trial. The

judge ruled in favor of the Board. Hedberg and the other Plaintiffs

appeal.

Appellants' assertion that the district court erred by granting Elev-

enth Amendment immunity against the recovery of damages is unper-

suasive. Appellants argue that because they alleged discrimination

emanating from the Board's official policy and because the Board is

subject to suit under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, application of immunity

was erroneous. As support for this proposition, Appellants cite Owen

v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622 (1980), Hutto v. Finney, 437

U.S. 678 (1978), and Monell v. Department of Social Servs., 436 U.S.

658, 694 (1978). These cases, however, are inapposite.7 Rather, the

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5 Plaintiffs had received right-to-sue letters from the Equal Employ-

ment Opportunity Commission dated August 22, 1995.

6 (J.A. at 245-47).

7 Indeed, only Hutto discusses Eleventh Amendment immunity, and

then only in the context of whether an award of attorney's fees is barred

--an issue not raised in this appeal. See 437 U.S. at 689-93 (finding that

an award of attorney's fees for bad faith was remedial and therefore not

barred by the Eleventh Amendment).

5

district court made a factual finding, not contested by Appellants on

appeal, that the Board was a partially state-funded organization. The

court went on to conclude that as a matter of law, therefore, that any

damages awarded would affect the state of South Carolina's treasury,

citing Gray v. Laws, 51 F.3d 426 (4th Cir. 1995). Although we review

the applicability of Eleventh Amendment immunity de novo, see

Ristow v. South Carolina Port Auth., 27 F.3d 84, 86 (4th Cir.),

vacated on other grounds, 513 U.S. 1011 (1994), we find the district

court's decision proper. See Harter v. Vernon , 101 F.3d 334, 340 (4th

Cir. 1996) (rehearing in banc denied) (holding that if a damages

award against an officer or entity would affect the state treasury,

Eleventh Amendment immunity applies), cert. denied, 65 U.S.L.W.

3742, 3852, 3861 (U.S. June 27, 1997) (No. 96-1701). The district

court properly limited Hedberg to prospective injunctive relief. See

Gray, 51 F.3d at 430 n.1.

Appellants provide this court with no support for their assertion

that the district court erred in dismissing Plaintiffs other than Hed-

berg. The record reflects that the district court viewed Hedberg's

efforts to add the other Plaintiffs, through the filing of amended com-

plaints, as improper and unrelated to her case under Fed. R. Civ. P.

19 and 20. We note that district courts are generally given broad dis-

cretion to decide the scope of a civil action. See Arrington v. City of

Fairfield, 414 F.2d 687, 693 (5th Cir. 1969) (finding that under Rule

20 courts have the authority to make such orders as will prevent delay

or prejudice).

We do not find the district court abused its discretion in denying

Hedberg's motion to amend. See Gladhill v. General Motors Corp.,

743 F.2d 1049, 1052 (4th Cir. 1984) (stating that disposition of a

motion to amend is within the discretion of the district court). The

addition of a new cause of action and reinstatement of previously dis-

missed Plaintiffs, on the eve of trial and after discovery was com-

pleted, would have further delayed disposition of the lawsuit and

prejudiced the Board.8 See Deasy v. Hill, 833 F.2d 38, 40 (4th Cir.

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8 In the alternative, Appellants seek to have this court toll the 90-day

period in which the previously dismissed Plaintiffs have to file their Title

VII actions in federal court. See Baldwin County Welcome Ctr. v. Brown,

6

1987) (finding that a motion to amend may be denied where the

motion has been unduly delayed and would prejudice the nonmovant).

Finally, we do not find that the district court erred by denying Hed-

berg a trial by jury on her remaining claims. The court concluded that

Defendants were an arm of the state and therefore her damages claims

were precluded by the Eleventh Amendment. See Harter, 101 F.3d at

340. Thus, Hedberg was limited to only equitable relief--prospective

injunctive relief, reinstatement, and attorney's fees--in which there is

no right to trial by jury. See Keller v. Prince George's County, 827

F.2d 952, 955-56 (4th Cir. 1987) (noting that when a Title VII or

§ 1983 trial is limited to equitable relief, no jury trial is available).

Accordingly, we affirm the orders of the district court. We dispense

with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are ade-

quately presented in the materials before the court and argument

would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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466 U.S. 147, 159-62 (1984) (holding that a Title VII plaintiff has 90

days to file suit in district court after receiving a right-to-sue letter from

EEOC; enumerating instances when equitable estoppel should be applied

to toll period). Because the timeliness of the 90-day period was not

addressed below, we decline to grant such relief in the first instance. See

Muth v. United States, 1 F.3d 246, 250 (4th Cir. 1993) (noting that issues

raised for the first time on appeal generally will not be considered). Nei-

ther do we comment on the district court's alternative ground for refus-

ing to exercise jurisdiction over the Plaintiffs' Title VII claims because

they failed to first exhaust their state remedies. See Davis v. North Caro-

lina Dep't of Correction, 48 F.3d 134, 147 (4th Cir. 1995) (holding that

when state law protects persons against the kind of discrimination

alleged, complainants must first resort to state and local remedies prior

to proceeding to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and

filing suit in court). See generally S.C. Code Ann. §§ 1-13-10 to 110

(Law. Co-op. 1986 & Supp. 1996) (making it unlawful under South Car-

olina law to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, religion,

color, sex, age, national origin, or disability).

7