Campbell v. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp.

311 F.Supp.3d 281

Kenneth CAMPBELL, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION, Defendant.

Loretta K. Bethea, Plaintiff,

v.Amtrak Police Department, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 99–2979 (EGS)

Civil Action No. 01–1513 (EGS)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed April 26, 2018

Loretta K. Bethea, Upper Marlboro, MD, pro se.

Timothy B. Fleming, Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, PLLC, Washington, DC, Russell W. Adams, Pro Hac Vice, Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, PLLC, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff.

Grace E. Speights, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Melissa Barbara Rogers, National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Emmet G. Sullivan, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs—seventy-one African–American current or former employees or applicants for employment at defendant National Railroad Passenger Corporation ("Amtrak")—allege that Amtrak engaged in racial discrimination in its hiring, promotion, and disciplinary practices and created a hostile work environment. Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit on behalf of themselves and more than 11,000 African–American unionized Amtrak employees, former employees, and applicants for employment at Amtrak.

Pending before the Court are plaintiffs' motion for class certification, Amtrak's motions to exclude a number of plaintiffs' experts, Amtrak's motion to strike portions of the declarations filed by plaintiffs in support of class certification, Amtrak's motion to strike portions of plaintiffs' reply in support of their motion for class certification, and Amtrak's motion for partial summary judgement. As explained more fully below, because plaintiffs' class definitions make membership in plaintiffs' proposed class contingent on individualized merits determinations, and because plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden to establish that the claims of all class members are susceptible to common proof, plaintiffs' motion for class certification is DENIED . In addition, Amtrak's motion to exclude Jay Finkelman's expert report and testimony is GRANTED , Amtrak's motion to exclude Thomas Roth's expert report and testimony is DENIED , Amtrak's motion to exclude Edwin Bradley and Liesl Fox's expert report and testimony is DENIED , Amtrak's motion to strike portions of plaintiffs' declarations is GRANTED in part , Amtrak's motion to strike portions of plaintiffs' reply brief is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part , and Amtrak's partial motion for summary judgment is GRANTED .

In Part I of this opinion, the Court sets forth the procedural history of this litigation. Part II sets forth factual background regarding Amtrak's structure, hiring and promotions decisions, disciplinary system, and work environment. In Parts III and IV, the Court analyzes the admissibility of various experts and other evidence offered in support of plaintiffs' motion for class certification. Part V discusses whether class certification is warranted in this case and, finally, Part VI resolves Amtrak's partial motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs' disparate-impact claims.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. The Initial And Amended Complaints

This employment discrimination class-action was filed on November 9, 1999 on behalf of current and former African–American employees of Amtrak's Intercity Strategic Business Unit or applicants for employment in that unit. Compl., ECF No. 1. Plaintiffs alleged claims for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, against Amtrak and a myriad of labor unions representing certain plaintiffs. Id. An amended complaint was filed on March 13, 2000, adding a number of named plaintiffs and a handful of labor unions as defendants. First Am. Compl., ECF No. 30.

B. The Court Adjudicates A Series Of Dispositive Motions

The first round of dispositive motions was filed in May 2000 in response to the amended complaint. Although a number of labor-union defendants answered the amended complaint, a few moved to dismiss on the ground that the labor unions were not "indispensable parties" to the litigation and would be better joined in the liability phase of the lawsuit if plaintiffs prevailed on their discrimination claims against Amtrak. See Union Defs.' Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 40; Union Defs.' Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 48. Amtrak also moved to dismiss plaintiffs' class claims, arguing that no amount of discovery would render plaintiffs' proposed classes certifiable under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. See Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 47. Amtrak moved separately to dismiss the individual claims of plaintiffs on a variety of grounds or, in the alternative, for a more definite statement of those claims. See Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 50.

Shortly after those motions were briefed, plaintiffs moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in order to enjoin Amtrak from "discriminating, disciplining, intimidating, or in any other way retaliating" against plaintiffs and class members. See Pls.' Mot. for TRO/PI, ECF No. 51. The Court denied the request for temporary injunctive relief on June 12, 2000. See Order, ECF No. 62. Thereafter, the Court granted the motions of the union defendants to be dismissed from the case, subject to their being rejoined in the event plaintiffs are successful on their liability claims and the union defendants are necessary to the finalization of an appropriate remedy. See Order, ECF No. 63; Order, ECF No. 64.

A second amended complaint, filed August 22, 2000, added one named plaintiff and eliminated the labor-union defendants. See Second Am. Compl., ECF No. 79. On January 26, 2001, the Court denied Amtrak's motion to dismiss plaintiffs' class claims. See Mem. Op. and Order, ECF No. 92. The Court determined that dismissal of the class claims was premature given the early stage of the proceedings, particularly because additional discovery could permit plaintiffs to correct any fatal flaws in their class definition. Id. at 3.¹ Later that year, the Court denied Amtrak's motion to dismiss plaintiffs' individual claims. See Campbell v. Amtrak , 163 F.Supp.2d 19 (D.D.C. 2001). In so doing, the Court rejected all four of Amtrak's arguments for dismissal, namely that: "1) certain 42 U.S.C. § 1981 claims are barred by the statute of limitations; 2) claims of plaintiffs who previously filed a charge involving the same conduct complained of here, but failed to sue, are barred by the statute of limitations in their right-to-sue letters; 3) certain Title VII claims are barred by the statute of limitations; and 4) claims which do not allege a timeframe fail to state Title VII claims." Id. at 21. The Court granted in part, however, Amtrak's motion for a more definite statement, ordering "plaintiffs to include dates of alleged events, to the extent possible, in an amended complaint" and "to amend their pleading to include a more appropriate term to define the class, so as to exclude from the class definition the salaried managerial and professional positions that were included within the scope of the McLaurin class action discrimination case against Amtrak." Id. at 28.

Plaintiffs filed a third amended complaint on January 3, 2002 to address the concerns set forth in the Court's dismissal Order. See Third Am. Compl., ECF No. 100. On May 27, 2002, plaintiffs filed the fourth amended—and currently operative—complaint. See Fourth Am. Compl., ECF No. 145. The complaint was amended in response to a decision by the parties to merge twenty-one discrimination lawsuits filed by current and former Amtrak employees in the Eastern District of Louisiana into the putative Campbell classes. See Pls.' Mem. in Supp. of Mot. to Amend, ECF No. 143 at 3–4. The parties also agreed to add one plaintiff from the Louisiana actions—Joseph McDonald—as a named plaintiff in this action. See id. at 4–5.

On February 4, 2002, Amtrak moved to dismiss some of the individual claims contained in the third amended complaint, see Def.'s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 104, which it supplemented in response to the fourth amended complaint on August 28, 2002, see Def.'s Suppl. Mem. in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss, ECF No. 127. On September 26, 2002, the Court denied Amtrak's motion. See Campbell v. Amtrak , 222 F.Supp.2d 8 (D.D.C. 2002). Amtrak had sought to dismiss one plaintiff's claims on the grounds that the continuing-violations theory could not save those claims from being barred by the statute of limitations, to dismiss six other plaintiffs' claims as "based on expired right-to-sue notices," and to dismiss the claims of three other plaintiffs as barred by the settlement of another class-action lawsuit. See id. at 9. In denying Amtrak's motion to dismiss, the Court found that the continuing-violations theory could bring one plaintiff's claims within the statutory period, that further factual development was required to determine whether other plaintiffs were entitled to equitable tolling of the statute of limitations, and that plaintiffs' claims were not clearly covered by the settlement agreement. Id. at 10–14.

C. The Related Case Of Bethea v. Amtrak Police Department

On July 11, 2001, Loretta Bethea filed an individual employment-discrimination lawsuit against the Amtrak Police Department in this court. See Compl., Bethea v. Amtrak Police Department , No. 01–cv–01513, ECF No. 1. Ms. Bethea alleged that she had suffered discrimination on the basis of her race and gender in connection with promotions and discipline. See generally id. Amtrak answered the complaint on September 6, 2001. See Answer, Bethea v. Amtrak Police Department , No. 01–cv–01513, ECF No. 5. On July 11, 2011, the parties requested a continuance of the initial scheduling conference in view of a request to consolidate Bethea with Campbell for pretrial purposes, see Joint Mot. to Continue, Bethea v. Amtrak Police Department , No. 01–cv–01513, ECF No. 11, and on May...