Gard v. Grand River Rubber & Plastics Co.

1

Kent Gard, Plaintiff, v. Grand River Rubber & Plastics Company, Defendant

No. 1:20cv125

United States District Court, N.D. Ohio

December 20, 2021

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

PAMELA A. BARKER, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE

Currently pending is Defendant Grand River Rubber & Plastics Company's (1) Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 63) and (2) Motion to Strike the Declaration of Kent Gard (Doc No. 77.) Plaintiff Kent Gard filed Briefs in Opposition to both Motions, to which Defendant replied. (Doc. Nos. 71, 74 78, 82, 86.) For the following reasons, Defendant's Motion to Strike (Doc. No. 77) is DENIED. Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 63) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, as set forth herein.

I. Facts

Defendant Grand River Rubber & Plastics Company (hereinafter “Defendant” or “Grand River”) is an Ashtabula, Ohio company that manufactures tubular rubber products, including lathe cut gaskets, drum and pail gaskets, seals, and vacuum sweeper belts. (Deposition of Donald Chaplin (Doc. No. 64-1) at Tr. 18-21.) Grand River has approximately 200 employees and is 100% employee owned. (Id. at Tr. 15, 24.) Donald Chaplin has served as Grand River's President since 2014. (Id. at Tr. 42-43.) He is also the company's Treasurer and a member of the Board. (Id. at Tr. 47.)

In October 2016, Grand River offered Plaintiff Kent Gard (hereinafter “Plaintiff” or “Gard”) the position of Manufacturing Manager of the Lathe Cut Division.^[1] (Deposition of Kent Gard (Doc. No. 64-3) at Tr. 84.) Gard was sixty-four (64) years old at the time of his hire. (Id. at Tr. 7.) Although he does not possess a bachelor's degree, Gard has over thirty (30) years of manufacturing management experience. (Id. at Tr. 7, 80.) Gard accepted the offer and began his employment with Grand River on January 3, 2017. (Id. at Tr. 80, 102.) He reported directly to then-Vice President of Operations, Jason Brand, who reported to Chaplin. (Id.) See also Deposition of Jason Brand (Doc. No. 64-2) at Tr. 21.

As part of his compensation package, Gard received health insurance through Grand River. (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 121-122; Gard Depo. at Tr. 162-163.) At all times relevant hereto, Grand River's health insurance plan was self-funded with stop-loss coverage up to a certain amount.^[2](Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 144-145.) Grand River works with a broker, USI Insurance Services, LLC (“USI”) to help manage its health insurance plan and for assistance in finding and/or renewing health insurance plans for its employees. (Id. at Tr. 143-144.) See also Deposition of Matthew Baird (Doc. No. 65-1) at 16-18. Chaplin is responsible for making the final decision regarding Grand River's health insurance plan. (Deposition of Lisa Castle (Doc. No. 64-4) at Tr. 47-48.) In 2017, Grand River's stop loss insurer was Anthem. (Id. at Tr. 44.)

In early February 2017 (approximately six weeks after starting at Grand River), Gard suffered a heart attack. (Gard Depo. at Tr. 103.) He was hospitalized at the Cleveland Clinic for the next three months. (Id. at Tr. 108.) During his stay at the Cleveland Clinic, Gard suffered acute kidney injury and was placed on dialysis.^[3] (Id. at Tr. 158-159.) See also Expert Report of Vito Campese, M.D. (Doc. No. 71-7) at PageID# 2295. He was transferred to a rehab facility in Ashtabula and was eventually discharged in late April/early May 2017. (Gard Depo. at Tr. 109-111.) Gard remained on dialysis until June 30, 2017. (Doc. No. 71-7 at PageID# 2295.)

Gard returned to work at Grand River on July 18, 2017. (Gard Depo. at Tr. 112.) During the time he was out on medical leave, Grand River paid Gard his full pay and did not require him to use his accrued vacation time. (Id. at Tr. 113.) Gard acknowledged that, at the time, he stated that he had “never been treated better.” (Id. at Tr. 116.) Gard returned to work in a full-time capacity. (Id. at Tr. 117.) Upon his return, he did not request any accommodations relating to his health, other than the need to occasionally go to medical appointments. (Brand Depo. at Tr. 206-207.)

On August 10, 2017, Chaplin had a conversation with Gard about his health care insurance. (Gard Depo. at. Tr. 174-176.) Shortly afterwards, Gard wrote the following summary of this conversation:

On or about 8/10/2017 Donny Chaplin came into my office area and said he had something to show me. I proceeded to follow him outside the office area into the hallway by the time clock where he stopped and said he didn't have anything to show me but rather he wanted to talk to me away from everyone else. He proceeded to tell me how expensive health care costs were for the company and he needed to do something to alleviate the recent health care costs. Donny also told me that my recent heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery was a major contributor to the excessive health care costs the company was exposed too [sic]. Donny stated that he was sure I did not want the company to not be successful. He then asked me if I had health insurance available through my wife's employer. He also asked if I had considered Medicare for insurance coverage. Donny then said that if I would waiver [sic] my insurance coverage with [Grand River] that he would adjust my salary to cover the additional costs through my wife's employer. I told him that the coverage my wife and I could get through her employer was not as good as the coverage I was getting through [Grand River]. I also told him that with my current health conditions that I would not be able to get insurance through another provider. I told him I would not waiver [sic] my rights to insurance coverage through [Grand River]. Donny ended the conversation by saying we would stay in touch concerning health care going forward.

(Gard Depo. Exh 4 (Doc. No. 73-3) at PageID# 2839.)^[4] See also Gard Depo. at Tr. 174-177. Chaplin explained that the reason he had this conversation with Gard was because of the high cost of the claims that Gard had incurred in 2017. (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 175-176.)

Throughout 2017 and 2018, Gard continued to work full-time as Manufacturing Manager of the Lathe Cut Division. Gard testified that he was not provided any negative feedback and, in fact, was regularly told that he was “doing a good job.” (Gard Depo. at Tr. 153; Gard Decl. (Doc. No. 731) at ¶¶ 5-6.) Gard's supervisor, Jason Brand, stated that Gard met all expectations and successfully performed his job. (Brand Depo. at Tr. 38, 53.) In particular, Brand testified that, under Gard's management, the Lathe Cut Division became more cost-effective, efficient, and profitable. (Id. at Tr. 47-50, 53-54, 58, 65-66.) Brand stated that he gave Gard a positive performance evaluation in January 2019 and, further, that Gard received regular pay raises and bonuses during his employment at Grand River.^[5] (Id. at Tr. 66-68.) See also Gard Decl. (Doc. No. 73-1) at ¶¶ 7-9.

Meanwhile, Chaplin testified that he knew that Gard “had an issue with his kidneys” and that he (Chaplin) communicated with USI regarding the cost of Gard's health care expenses relating to this condition. (Chaplin Depo. at 161-162, 179-180.) For example, in September 2017, Chaplin emailed Matthew Baird at USI, asking “[d]id you ask Anthem about the stop loss renewal if we take Kent Gard off the plan?” (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 154; Chaplin Depo. Exh. 26 (Doc. No. 64-1 at PageID# 663.)) Baird responded that Anthem was “absolutely willing to work on getting the rates down if we can give them a definitive yes” on Gard (and one other “high-cost claimant”) leaving the plan, noting that “[i]t will also go a long way in helping with the other [insurance] carriers.” (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 158-159; Chaplin Depo. Exh. 26 (Doc. No. 64-1 at PageID#662.)) In or around November 2017, Chaplin testified that he was told by Brand that Gard was back on dialysis and was going to be needing a kidney transplant. (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 194-197.) Around this same time, Chaplin was concerned about increases in Grand River's health care expenses that were “too large for the company to absorb.” (Id. at Tr. 187-188.) See also Brand Depo. at Tr. 77-78. Chaplin reached out to Baird in late November 2017, seeking to determine whether Gard was on a kidney transplant list. (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 192-93; Chaplin Depo. Exh. 32 (Doc. No. 64-1 at PageID# 678.)) Grand River ultimately switched its stop loss insurer from Anthem to Medical Mutual of Ohio (“MMO”) in 2018.^[6] (Castle Depo. at Tr. 44-45; Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 190.)

In July and August 2018, Chaplin attempted to determine whether Gard might qualify for Medicare due to his kidney condition. Specifically, on July 23, 2018, Chaplin emailed Baird regarding the possibility of having Gard's kidney condition diagnosed as end stage renal disease (“ESRD”), as Chaplin believed that Medicare would cover the cost of Gard's kidney transplant once Gard had that diagnosis for a certain length of time.^[7] (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 202-203; Chaplin Depo. Exh. 33 (Doc. No. 64-1 at PageID# 679.)) On July 30, 2018, Chaplin emailed Baird again, this time asking him for information that could be provided to Gard that “would show that Medicare pays primary after” a certain time period. (Chaplin Depo. Exh. 36 (Doc. No. 64-1 at PageID# 685.)) In that email, Chaplin advised Baird that Gard “will then talk to the doctor to see about his original diagnosis date.” (Id.)

In addition, at some point in late July or early August 2018 Chaplin spoke with Gard about the possibility of switching to Medicare.^[8] (Chaplin Depo. at Tr. 216.) According to Gard, Chaplin “instructed [him] directly to make an appointment with the Social Security Administration (‘SSA') Anthem's quote for 2018 represented an increase of 48.14% in the fixed cost of the health plan from 2017 to 2018. (Id. at Tr. 80.) ...