Jemison v. AFIMAC Global

645 F.Supp.3d 781

Charlotte JEMISON, Administratrix of the Estate of Deceased Vesta Janiquea Cox, et al., Plaintiffs, v. AFIMAC GLOBAL, Defendant.

Case No. 1:21-cv-01028

United States District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division

Signed December 12, 2022

Brian R. Noethlich, Jacob A. Mikalov, Robert E. DeRose, II, Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, Columbus, OH, Eric C. Sheffer, Rocco Calamusa, Jr., Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff Shelitha Jones.

Robert E. DeRose, II, Brian R. Noethlich, Jacob A. Mikalov, Barkan Meizlish DeRose Cox, Columbus, OH, Rocco Calamusa, Jr., Pro Hac Vice, Wiggins, Childs, Pantazis, Fisher & Goldfarb, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff Charlotte Jemison.

Lauren Hope Whiting, Jackson Lewis, Austin, TX, Patrick S. Richter, Rigby Slack Lawrence Berger Akinc Pepper & Comerford, Austin, TX, MacKenzie L. Rini, Michael B. Pascoe, Steven E. Seasly, Phillip G. Eckenrode, Jr., Hahn, Loeser & Parks, Cleveland, OH, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

PAMELA A. BARKER, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Currently pending is Defendant AFIMAC Global's Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. No. 38.) Plaintiffs Charlotte Jemison, administratrix of the estate of deceased Vesta Janiquea Cox, and Shelitha Jones filed an Opposition to AFIMAC's Motion, to which AFIMAC replied. (Doc. Nos. 42, 43.) For the following reasons, AFIMAC's Motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

AFIMAC is a crisis response company that contracts with public and private companies to provide services such as skilled labor and security, as well as some food service and logistical support, during crises like strikes, natural disasters, and the like. (Ed Zukowski Depo., Doc. No. 42-4, PageID# 534.) In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, AFIMAC contracted with Cheniere Energy to provide food and housing services to the employees at Cheniere's Cameron, Louisiana facility so that Cheniere's employees could be safely "locked in" at the facility to avoid disrupting Cheniere's production during the early days of the pandemic. (John Threadgill Depo., Doc. No. 42-5, PageID# 612.) To serve Cheniere, AFIMAC hired a variety of workers to provide food, laundry, and housing services at the Cheneiere site. (Id. at PageID# 613.)

Two of these workers included Janiquea Cox¹ and Shelitha Jones. Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones arrived together in Beaumont, Texas on April 2, 2020 to start work for AFIMAC. (Shelitha Jones Depo., Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 483-84.) Upon their arrival in Beaumont, Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones were instructed to meet with John Threadgill, the project manager for the Cheniere site, at the Beaumont Marriott Residence Inn. (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 485; Doc. No. 42-5, PageID# 613.) AFIMAC used the Beaumont Inn as a staging and onboarding site for AFIMAC employees en route to the Cheniere site. (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 485.) Threadgill instructed Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones to meet him in a hotel room to complete hiring paperwork. (Id.) Also present at that meeting between Threadgill and Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones was Troy Jones, the food service manager. (Id. at PageID# 486; see also Terry Hatchell Depo., Doc. No. 42-6, PageID# 655.) Threadgill informed Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones that they would be assigned to work in the laundry department and that Troy Jones would be their supervisor. (Id. at PageID# 485-86.) According to Terry Hatchell, the assistant project manager at the Cheniere site, Troy Jones was responsible for overseeing food service and laundry service. (Doc. No. 42-6, PageID# 655.)

On April 3, 2020, Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones hung around the Beaumont Inn, waiting for a transfer to the Cheniere site. (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 485-86.) On April 4, 2020, around 5:30 a.m., Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones went to the hotel lobby to catch an AFIMAC van that would transport them to the Cheniere site. (Id. at PageID# 487.) Ms. Jones saw several AFIMAC employees board a large white passenger van. (Id.) However, Troy Jones told Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones that they should ride with him in his personal vehicle instead of taking the van to the Cheniere site. (Id. at PageID# 488.) According to Ms. Jones, she and Ms. Cox were the only AFIMAC employees that Troy Jones drove to the work site. (Id.) According to Troy, he drove other people besides Ms. Jones and Ms. Cox to the work site that morning but could not recall specifically who those people were. (Troy Jones Depo., Doc. No. 42-7, PageID# 678.) According to Ms. Jones, while en route to Cheniere, Troy Jones commented on Ms. Cox's body, asked if she had a boyfriend, and then said "He must be a crazy man because I know you drive him crazy with your long legs." (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 488.) Ms. Jones testified that Troy Jones's comment came out of nowhere and that she heard him say it to Ms. Cox. (Id.) Ms. Jones remembered Ms. Cox told Troy Jones that that was none of his business and that Troy Jones laughed her off. (Id.)

1. Plaintiffs' Trailer and Living Quarters

When Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones arrived at the work site, they selected a sleeping trailer to live in for the duration of the Cheniere job. (Id. at PageID# 489-90.) The precise layout of the Cheniere sleeping trailers is a matter of great dispute within the record. According to Ms. Jones, a single trailer contained two sets of bunk beds, a sink, and a toilet. (Id. at PageID# 491.) The trailers had two doors, a front door and side door. (Id. at PageID# 493.) Ms. Jones testified that the doors did not lock. (Id.) According to Threadgill, the trailers actually contained multiple sets of living quarters, each with two sets of beds. (Doc. No. 42-5, PageID# 619.) Threadgill did not believe that there were doors that connected the separate living quarters within the trailers but believed that each living quarters was separated by a wall. (Id.) Threadgill further testified that two people were assigned to stay in each living quarters. (Id.) Troy Jones testified that he assigned Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones to their trailer, and that each trailer had multiple rooms within it. (Doc. No. 42-7, PageID# 677.) Troy Jones testified that there were multiple doors in each room, including doors that led from one living quarters to another. (Id.)

There is also significant dispute over whether some or any of the doors in the trailers locked. According to Ms. Jones, none of the doors in her living quarters locked. (Doc. No. 42-1, PgaeID# 493.) According to Threadgill, he never investigated whether any of the doors in the trailers had locks on them. (Doc. No. 42-5, PageID# 619.) According to Ed Zukowski, head of AFIMAC's human resources department, he also never investigated whether the doors to the trailers locked. (Doc. No. 42-4, PageID# 543.) According to Troy Jones, all of the doors in the trailers, including those separating the private living quarters, had locks on them. (Doc. No. 42-7, PageID# 677.)

At some point—the record is not clear when—Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones tied a bedsheet onto one of their doorknobs to keep Troy Jones from entering their room. (See Defendant Ex. H.) In one video taken by Ms. Cox (the "Bedsheet Video"), one door (which has a bedsheet tied around the handle) appears to have a circular lock underneath the doorknob. (Id.) Ms. Cox does not open this door in the video, so it is unclear where this door leads. However, another door with a grate on the bottom, adjacent to the door with the bedsheet tied on, does not appear to have any lock beneath the handle. (Id.) This door appears to lead to another interior space within the trailer. (Id.) A third door, adjacent to the sink, also appears not to have any lock under the doorknob. (Id.) This door seems to lead to another living quarters, with its own sets of bunks. (Id.) There is a fourth door in this other living quarters, that leads to the exterior of the trailer. (Id.)

2. Troy Jones Harasses Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones

According to Ms. Jones, after she and Ms. Cox arrived at the Cheniere site and moved into their trailer, Troy Jones began harassing them. (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 494.)

Ms. Jones testified that Troy Jones came into their trailer unannounced and uninvited "several times." (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 499-500.) Troy Jones's first alleged unannounced visit occurred the day that Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones moved in. (Id. at PageID# 507.) At some point that day, Troy Jones came into their trailer unannounced while Ms. Cox was changing her clothes and had her shirt off. (Id.; see also S. Jones 4/8/2020 Written Statement, Doc. No. 42-11; J. Cox 4/8/2020 Written Statement, Doc. No. 42-12.) Ms. Jones heard Troy say to Ms. Cox, "You don't have anything I want to see. Your titties are too small." (Id. at PageID# 520; Doc. No. 42-12.)

After that incident, Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones attempted to block at least one of the doors to their living quarters to keep Troy from entering their room unannounced. (Doc. No. 42-11.) Sometime later that day, Troy came in from a different door, observed that another door was blocked, and said "Oh, y'all locking me out?," to which Ms. Cox and Ms. Jones responded yes, because he didn't belong in their room. (Id.)

The next day, Ms. Jones claims that Troy again entered their room uninvited with a flashlight. (Id.; see also Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 494.) He spotted Ms. Jones under her covers and asked if she was "naked" under there. (Id.) Later that morning, according to Ms. Jones, she was working in the laundry trailer and had her keys on a lanyard around her neck underneath her shirt. (Doc. No. 42-1, PageID# 501.) Ms. Jones testified that Troy Jones came up from behind, put his hand under her shirt, asked what was under her shirt, lifted her shirt, and exposed and touched her stomach. (Id.)

Later that same day, in an incident captured on video, Ms. Jones was leaning on a washing machine in the laundry trailer. (Id. at PageID# 503; see also Defendant Ex. K, "Laundry Video.") The audio in the video is difficult to hear, but Troy Jones is observed talking...