Horton v. Virtual Officeware Healthcare Sols.

1

REBECCA HORTON, Plaintiff, v. VIRTUAL OFFICEWARE HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS, Defendant.

No. 2:22-cv-1219-NR

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania

November 16, 2022

MEMORANDUM ORDER

J. NICHOLAS RANJAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff Rebecca Horton brings this disability-discrimination and failure-to-accommodate action against Defendant Virtual Officeware Healthcare Solutions under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. Ms. Horton had worked as a Patient Service Representative and Credentialing Assistant for Virtual Officeware, until she was terminated on March 5, 2021. She claims that during her tenure, Virtual Officeware failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for her disabilities, including “migraines,” “anxiety,” “nerve and bone pain,” and “prolonged trauma and PTSD.” ECF 1-1, ¶¶ 3-4. She believes that her disabilities, and Virtual Officeware's failure to accommodate them, were the real reasons for her termination. Id. at ¶¶ 32-59.

Virtual Officeware has moved to dismiss Ms. Horton's complaint arguing that it should be dismissed for two reasons, neither of which holds water.

First Virtual Officeware argues that Ms. Horton's claims are untimely. That is, Virtual Officeware contends that she failed to file her complaint within the 90-day statutory period after receiving her right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The timeline is key:

May 24, 2021

Ms. Horton files a Charge of Discrimination with EEOC

April 22, 2022

EEOC issues right-to-sue letter and uploads to portal

July 20, 2022

Attorney Sharon Wigle tries to file complaint with the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Pennsylvania

July 22, 2022

Ninety-day deadline to file complaint

July 25, 2022

Allegheny County CCP notifies Ms. Wigle that it rejected Ms. Horton's complaint

July 25, 2022

Ms. Wigle makes second attempt to file complaint-rejected because no cover sheet and wrong “docket type” selected

July 26, 2022

Ms. Wigle makes third attempt to file complaint-rejected because no cover sheet

July 27, 2022

Ms. Wigle makes fourth attempt to file complaint-rejected because she incorrectly uploaded the cover sheet under the “Praecipe” option

July 28, 2022

Ms. Wigle successfully files complaint

ECF 17-4.

While this timeline makes clear that Ms. Horton's complaint was not docketed until ninety-six days after the right-to-sue letter was issued, Ms. Horton first asserted her claims two days before the 90-day deadline when she initially tried to file her complaint in state court. Id. Her complaint just wasn't “accepted” by the court and docketed right away because of some technical deficiencies in the form of the filing. Id. The date the complaint was docketed is irrelevant, though. But even if Ms. Horton's complaint were a few days late, the Court finds that Ms. Horton is entitled to equitable tolling based on well-established tolling principles.^[1] Second Virtual Officeware argues that even if timely, Ms. Horton's claims should still be dismissed because she “has failed to adequately plead a viable claim of disability discrimination or failure to accommodate under the ADA or PHRA as she has not made sufficient factual averments to support any of her claims.” ECF 17, pp. 8-9. Not so. Construing the allegations in the complaint in the light most favorable to Ms. Horton, and making all reasonable inferences, the Court concludes that Ms. Horton has set forth sufficient factual detail to state plausible claims.

For these reasons, which are explained in more detail below, the Court denies Virtual Officeware's motion to dismiss.

DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS^[2]

I. Ms. Horton's claims are timely.

To maintain a claim under the ADA, a plaintiff must commence a lawsuit in a court of competent jurisdiction within 90 days of receiving a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC. Azadpour v. AMCS Grp. Inc., No. 19-1968, 2022 WL 4110524, at *3 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 8, 2022) (citing 42 U.S.C. § 12117(a)). This requirement is strictly construed. See Mosel v. Hills Dept. Store, Inc., 789 F.2d 251, 252 (3d Cir. 1986). Although the 90-day filing requirement is applied strictly, it “is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to suit in federal court, but a requirement that, like a statute of state-law claims. ECF 17, pp. 7-8. This is a strange request, seeing as Virtual Officeware removed the case to federal court to begin with. But it's also a moot request, since the Court rejects Virtual Officeware's untimeliness argument and finds that Ms. Horton has stated plausible federal claims. limitations, is subject to waiver, estoppel, and equitable tolling.” Zipes v. Trans WorldAirlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393 (1982). The Third Circuit has held that raising this issue is an affirmative defense and that the burden of proof “rests solely on the employer.” Ebbert v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 319 F.3d 103, 108 (3d Cir. 2003) (citation omitted).

The first step in this analysis is determining when Ms. Horton “first asserted” her ADA claims. See Thomas v. Esterle, No. 18-686, 2018 WL 11337179, at *3 (N.D.Ga. Dec. 27, 2018). Importantly, “[t]he 90-day filing deadline is the deadline for bringing the lawsuit, not for the technical docketing of the complaint.” Id. (citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1)). Here, Ms. Horton brought her lawsuit on July 20, 2022-two days before the 90-day filing deadline-by attempting to file a complaint with the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. ECF 17-4, ¶ 3. That complaint was not “accepted” and docketed, but that's irrelevant. Attempting to file the complaint was Ms. Horton's act of bringing the lawsuit. See Thomas, 2018 WL 11337179, at *3 (“Plaintiff filed her application to proceed in forma pauperis with her complaint attached-thereby initiating her lawsuit-on February 15, 2018. The technical docketing of the complaint...is inconsequential to this analysis.”).

But even if that were not the case, equitable tolling “applies here to defeat [Virtual Officeware's] argument entirely.” Gilliam v. Verizon Pa., Inc., No. 13-1557, 2014 WL 901296, at *5 (W.D. Pa. Mar. 21, 2014) (Mitchel, M.J.). The Supreme Court has stated that equitable tolling is allowed “where the claimant has actively pursued his judicial remedies by filing a defective pleading during the statutory period[.]” Irwin v. Dep't of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 96 (1990) (citations omitted). Consistent with that statement, courts, including this one, have routinely applied equitable tolling to circumstances substantially similar to those presented in this case:

• Gilliam, 2014 WL 901296, at *4-7 (rejecting defendant's “hyper technical” argument that complaint was time-barred when it was filed two days late because an “administrative/computer filing error occurred” after plaintiff tried to file electronically);

• Butler v. Schapiro, 839 F.Supp.2d 252, 255-56 (D.D.C. 2012) (equitable tolling applied when the plaintiff's “attorney's paralegal attempted to file th[e] complaint on time, and it was accidentally delivered to a different government office,” but “[u]pon discovery of this mistake, [her] attorney promptly filed the complaint with the correct office the next day”); and

• Turner v. Shinseki, 824 F.Supp.2d 99, 108, 111-12 (D.D.C. 2011) (equitably tolling the limitations period where the pro se plaintiff timely filed a complaint that was deemed “deficient due to the plaintiff's failure to properly name all parties in the caption, properly sign the Complaint, submit the requisite number of copies, and use the correct civil cover sheet,” and re-filed the corrected complaint after the limitations period expired).

Virtual Officeware's reliance on the “directly on point” case of Coffey v. Alorica,Inc., No. 20-1039, 2020 WL 5983069 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 8, 2020) (Horan, J.) is misplaced. ECF 20, pp. 1-3. In Coffey, the plaintiff asked the court to apply the equitable tolling doctrine because “her counsel was not informed of the issuance of the right to sue letter” until after the 90-day deadline. Id. at *2. The plaintiff tried to use that delay to explain away commencing the action just over two months after the deadline. Id. The situation here is completely different. Ms. Horton tried to file suit on time, but because of a series of technical defects in her filings, her complaint wasn't docketed until a few days after the deadline. ECF 17-4. Ms. Horton did not sleep on her rights the same way that the plaintiff did in Coffey.

Put simply, Ms. Horton “made a good faith effort to comply with the [ADA's] 90-day statutory period.” Gooch v. American Eagle Airlines, Inc., No. 2:13-cv-2272, 2016 WL 590190, at *6 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2016). It was only because “of a defective pleading [that] she was unable to timely file her complaint asserting claims for violation of the [ADA].” Id. (cleaned up). Under these circumstances, “equitable tolling applies and [Ms. Horton's] claims are not barred.” Id.; see also Gilliam, 2014 WL 901296, at *7 (“The Court concludes that equitable tolling applies to the extraordinary circumstances of this case and Plaintiff's Complaint, even if not technically filed until October 25, 2013, will not be dismissed.”).^[3]

II. Ms. Horton has sufficiently pled her claims.

Next, Virtual Officeware argues that Ms. Horton “has failed to adequately plead a viable claim of disability discrimination or failure to accommodate under the ADA or PHRA[.]” ECF 17, p. 8. That's because “she has not made sufficient factual averments to support any of her claims.” Id. at pp. 8-9. The Court disagrees.

A. Ms. Horton has sufficiently pled her disability-discrimination claim.

“Congress enacted the ADA in 1990 in an effort to prevent otherwise qualified individuals from being discriminated against in employment based on a...