Patrick King v. Mansfield University of Pennsy , 645 F. App'x 131 ( 2016 )

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 15-1814
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PATRICK KING,
Appellant
v.
MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA;
STATE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION;
JOHN DOE; RICHARD ROE
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On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
(D. C. Civil No. 1-11-cv-01112)
District Judge: Honorable Sylvia H. Rambo
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Submitted under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
on February 12, 2016
Before: FUENTES, KRAUSE and ROTH, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: March 23, 2016)
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OPINION*
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*
This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
ROTH, Circuit Judge
Patrick King challenges the Clerk of the District Court’s jurisdiction to enter a
judgment of costs in favor of Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania
State System of Higher Education, and two unnamed individual defendants (collectively,
Mansfield). The Clerk had jurisdiction to enter the judgment and, therefore, we will
affirm the District Court’s order affirming it.
I.
King brought suit against Mansfield alleging various federal and state law claims
connected to an alleged incident of sexual harassment that occurred while he was
enrolled at, and employed by, Mansfield. The District Court granted summary judgment
to Mansfield on the federal claims, holding that they were not timely filed. The District
Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over King’s state law claims. King
does not challenge the summary judgment ruling.
Following the entry of judgment, Mansfield submitted to the Clerk of the Court for
the Middle District of Pennsylvania a bill of costs in the amount of $6,553.27. King
objected to the bill of costs and the Clerk overruled those objections. King appealed the
taxation of costs to the District Court, which denied the appeal and King’s subsequent
motion for reconsideration. King now appeals the Clerk’s taxation of costs and the
District Court’s affirmance of that taxation of costs.
2
II.1
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d) provides for the award of costs to the
prevailing party in federal litigation. King does not challenge Mansfield’s status as a
prevailing party or the reasonableness of those costs. Instead, King argues that the
District Court, in rejecting his federal claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964,2 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA),3 and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973,4 lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case and,
consequently, the Clerk lacked jurisdiction to tax costs. King is incorrect.
The Supreme Court and this Court have held that the statute of limitations in Title
VII is not jurisdictional and, as is the case in many federal statutes, the time limits are
subject to equitable tolling.5 The ADA and the Rehabilitation Act each “incorporates by
reference Title VII’s ‘powers, remedies, and procedures,’”6 making each statute’s time
limits similarly non-jurisdictional and subject to equitable tolling. Thus, the District
Court’s grant of summary judgment to Mansfield was not, as King contends, a dismissal
for lack of subject matter jurisdiction but rather a decision on the merits. Consequently,
Rule 54(d)(1) applies and the Clerk of the Court had jurisdiction to tax costs against
1
The District Court had jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and
1343. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “[W]e
exercise plenary review as to legal questions pertaining to Rule 54(d)(1).” In re Paoli
R.R. Yard Litig., 221 F.3d 449, 458 (3d Cir. 2000).
2
42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e et seq.
3
42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq.
4
29 U.S.C. §§ 794.
5
See Irwin v. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 95–96 (1990); Podobnik v. U.S.
Postal Serv., 409 F.3d 584, 591 (3d Cir. 2005).
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Ebbert v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 319 F.3d 103, 108 n.4 (3d Cir. 2003) (quoting 42 U.S.C. §
12117)..
3
King. It is not necessary for us to reach King’s other arguments, based as they are on the
faulty premise that the Clerk of the Court lacked jurisdiction to tax costs.
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the order of the District Court, affirming
the Clerk of the Court’s taxation of costs.
4