Tracette House v. Interline Brands, Inc. , 464 F. App'x 402 ( 2012 )


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  •      Case: 11-20524     Document: 00511793848         Page: 1     Date Filed: 03/20/2012
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT  United States Court of Appeals
    Fifth Circuit
    FILED
    March 20, 2012
    No. 11-20524                          Lyle W. Cayce
    Summary Calendar                             Clerk
    TRACETTE D. HOUSE,
    Plaintiff - Appellant
    v.
    INTERLINE BRANDS, INCORPORATED,
    Defendant - Appellee
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Southern District of Texas, Houston
    USDC No. 4:10-CV-183
    Before KING, JOLLY, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:*
    Tracette House, pro se, appeals the district court’s summary judgment
    dismissing her case with prejudice. For the following reasons, the district court’s
    judgment is AFFIRMED.
    I.
    Tracette House’s employment with Interline Brands, Inc. (“Interline”), was
    terminated on April 14, 2008, after several absences and other violations of the
    *
    Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
    be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
    R. 47.5.4.
    Case: 11-20524      Document: 00511793848         Page: 2     Date Filed: 03/20/2012
    No. 11-20524
    company’s attendance policy. On May 13, 2008, House filed a charge with the
    EEOC, alleging sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, and retaliation in
    connection with her employment at Interline. After receiving a right-to-sue
    letter, House filed a complaint in the District Court for the Southern District of
    Texas on January 20, 2010, naming Interline as the sole defendant, and
    asserting a violation of her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
    House’s complaint alleges that two Interline employees made inappropriate
    sexual advances toward her, and that her refusal of those advances precipitated
    her termination.
    On April 28, 2011, Interline moved for summary judgment. The district
    court granted the motion on June 27, 2011, first construing House’s complaint
    as a claim for quid pro quo sexual harassment, and then holding that the record
    failed to support a prima facie case. House appeals.1
    II.
    “‘This court reviews the district court’s grant of summary judgment de
    novo, applying the same standards as the district court.’” Int’l Fid. Ins. Co. v.
    Sweet Little Mex. Corp., 
    665 F.3d 671
    , 679 (5th Cir. 2011) (quoting DePree v.
    Saunders, 
    588 F.3d 282
    , 286 (5th Cir. 2009)). Summary judgment is appropriate
    where “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material
    fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” FED. R. CIV. P.
    56(a). The movant can satisfy this standard, after adequate time for discovery,
    by showing that an opponent “fails to . . . establish the existence of an element
    essential to that party’s case . . . on which that party will bear the burden of
    proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 
    477 U.S. 317
    , 322 (1986). The opponent
    1
    House challenges the district court’s judgment, but does not argue that the court’s
    interpretation of her complaint was incorrect. Therefore, we will treat House’s claim as one
    for quid pro quo sexual harassment, despite her frequent use of legal terminology relating to
    various other claims.
    2
    Case: 11-20524    Document: 00511793848     Page: 3    Date Filed: 03/20/2012
    No. 11-20524
    must support its opposition to summary judgment by citing to materials in the
    record. FED. R. CIV. P. 56(c).
    The district court based its summary judgment on House’s failure to cite
    any record evidence supporting a prima facie case for quid pro quo sexual
    harassment and Interline’s citations to record evidence negating the same. A
    prima facie case for Title VII quid pro quo sexual harassment requires five
    elements: (1) the employee belongs to a protected group; (2) the employee is
    subjected to unwelcome harassment; (3) the harassment is based on sex; (4) the
    employee’s refusal of the unwelcome harassment causes a tangible job
    detriment; and (5) there exists some ground to hold the employer liable. Collins
    v. Baptist Mem’l Geriatric Ctr., 
    937 F.2d 190
    , 195-96 (5th Cir. 1991).
    In opposing Interline’s motion for summary judgment, House relied on the
    following summary judgment evidence: disciplinary reports and timesheets
    indicating that she and other Interline employees were frequently absent or
    tardy; a portion of her job application to Interline; e-mails among Interline
    employees indicating that House requested forms to file a grievance; her EEOC
    charge and other documents indicating an EEOC investigation; a portion of
    Interline’s employee handbook; a brief text-message exchange between House
    and another Interline employee in which the employee inquired whether House
    was feeling okay following a car accident; forms from a doctor’s office indicating
    that House received certain medical treatments in Spring 2008 because of car
    accident injuries; letters from Interline to House documenting her violations of
    the company’s attendance policy and her discharge for that reason; and a
    document from a doctor’s office indicating that House suffers from mental
    illness.
    This evidentiary showing, although extensive, has a glaring defect: it is not
    directed toward the elements of a prima facie case for sexual harassment.
    Instead, the evidence shows that House was chronically late or absent from
    3
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    No. 11-20524
    work, that she filed a charge with the EEOC before bringing this lawsuit, and
    that she has medical complications, at least some of which stem from a car
    accident. House purported to summarize this evidence in a forty-seven point
    statement of facts attached to her opposition to the motion for summary
    judgment. Her statement of facts, however, is totally divorced from the facts
    established in the record and contains no citations to the record. House also
    created a six-page document that she contends is a bullet point summary of her
    own deposition. Similar to her statement of facts, however, this summary
    contains no citations to the deposition transcript, and, when one compares it
    with the transcript, which Interline furnished, House’s summary appears to be
    a total fabrication.
    Interline, on the other hand, presented evidence in the form of affidavits
    and deposition testimony that House was not sexually harassed at all, that she
    was discharged for violating Interline’s attendance policy, and that she tried to
    persuade a former co-worker to lie during discovery.         House’s failure to
    successfully oppose this evidence, coupled with her inadvertent success in
    confirming most of it, means that there is “no genuine dispute as to any material
    fact.” FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a). Summary judgment is, therefore, appropriate.
    III.
    Summary judgment exists to “dispose of factually unsupported claims.”
    Celotex, 
    477 U.S. at 323-34
    .      In this instance, the district court correctly
    identified a lack of factual support, and the court’s judgment is
    AFFIRMED.
    4
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 11-20524

Citation Numbers: 464 F. App'x 402

Judges: Graves, Jolly, King, Per Curiam

Filed Date: 3/20/2012

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 8/5/2023