Johnston v. Hunter Douglas Window Fashions ( 2017 )


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  •                                                                                   FILED
    United States Court of Appeals
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                          Tenth Circuit
    FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT                         November 2, 2017
    _________________________________
    Elisabeth A. Shumaker
    Clerk of Court
    ALFRED LARRY JOHNSTON,
    Plaintiff - Appellant,
    v.                                                          No. 17-1099
    (D.C. No. 1:15-CV-00852-RM-KLM)
    HUNTER DOUGLAS WINDOW                                        (D. Colo.)
    FASHIONS, INC.; LIBERTY
    INSURANCE CORPORATION;
    SANDER J. HUGH ORENT, M.D.;
    LAWRENCE ALLEN LESNAK, D.O.,
    Defendants - Appellees.
    _________________________________
    ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
    _________________________________
    Before HARTZ, McKAY, and MATHESON, Circuit Judges.
    _________________________________
    Alfred Johnston appeals the district court’s order dismissing his amended
    complaint.1 Exercising our jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.
    *
    After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
    unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of
    this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
    ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding
    precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral
    estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with
    Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
    1
    His notice of appeal also identifies the district court’s order denying
    reconsideration, but he does not challenge this order in his opening brief, so we do
    not address it. See COPE v. Kan. State Bd. of Educ., 
    821 F.3d 1215
    , 1223 (10th Cir.)
    (continued)
    I. BACKGROUND
    According to Mr. Johnston’s amended complaint,2 he started working at
    Hunter Douglas Window Fashions in 1999 and “satisfactorily performed his job”
    throughout his employment. Aplt. App. at 15. Over time, he noticed “that older
    workers were not welcomed or maintained” and that Hunter Douglas had “a pattern
    or practice of terminating older employees.” 
    Id. He also
    noticed the company had “a
    pattern or practice of terminating employees with disabilities.” 
    Id. at 16.
    Mr. Johnston alleges that after he turned 60, Hunter Douglas subjected him “to
    a hostile work environment” that included “specious performance improvement
    plans.” 
    Id. He further
    alleges that he “suffered a disabling work injury” on
    December 19, 2011, when another “employee left a large splinter of wood in a
    marked walkway that caused Mr. Johnston to fall.” 
    Id. This “injury
    resulted in
    physical impairment that did substantially limit [his] major life activities, including
    work.” 
    Id. Nevertheless, Mr.
    Johnston “was qualified to return to work” and wanted
    to do so. 
    Id. Mr. Johnston
    alleges that after he “became disabled . . . Hunter Douglas
    treated him differently than other[] similarly situated employees, and made his work
    environment even more hostile.” 
    Id. at 16-17.
    Additionally, “Hunter Douglas did
    (arguments not raised in appellant’s opening brief are waived), cert. denied,
    
    137 S. Ct. 475
    (2016).
    2
    Like the district court, we assume Mr. Johnston’s well-pleaded factual
    allegations are correct, but not his legal conclusions. See Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 
    556 U.S. 662
    , 678 (2009).
    2
    little to integrate [him] back into the workplace or accommodate his disability.” 
    Id. at 19.
    This “hostile work environment” prompted Mr. Johnston to file “an internal
    sexual harassment charge,” which “became a point for retaliation against [him].” 
    Id. According to
    Mr. Johnston, Hunter Douglas and its workers’ compensation
    insurance provider, Liberty Insurance Corporation, “actively interfered with [his]
    medical treatment” by colluding with his doctors, Sander Orent and Lawrence
    Lesnak. 
    Id. As a
    result of this “improper communication[],” Doctors Orent and
    Lesnak “offered opinions that were contrary to sound medical judgment.” 
    Id. Ultimately, Hunter
    Douglas fired Mr. Johnston “on June 14, 2013, for not
    being able to return to work within [its] arbitrary time frame” and replaced him with
    “someone outside his protected class.” 
    Id. at 20.
    Mr. Johnston alleges this
    misconduct has harmed him in a variety of ways.
    The amended complaint raises three federal claims against Hunter Douglas—
    age discrimination, retaliation, and disability discrimination under the Americans
    with Disabilities Act (ADA)—and several state claims against all defendants. The
    defendants moved to dismiss Mr. Johnston’s claims under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6).
    The district court found the amended complaint failed to allege facts sufficient to
    establish plausible claims for age discrimination, retaliation, and disability
    discrimination, so it dismissed Mr. Johnston’s federal claims. With no independent
    basis for exercising jurisdiction over his state claims, the court dismissed them, too.
    3
    II. DISCUSSION
    A. Legal Background
    We review a dismissal under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) de novo. S.E.C. v.
    Shields, 
    744 F.3d 633
    , 640 (10th Cir. 2014).
    A complaint “must contain . . . a short and plain statement of the claim
    showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). To survive a
    motion to dismiss, the complaint must allege enough well-pleaded facts, “accepted as
    true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 
    556 U.S. 662
    , 678 (2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). A claim is facially
    plausible when there are enough facts “to draw the reasonable inference that the
    defendant is liable.” 
    Id. B. Analysis
    Mr. Johnston makes two arguments on appeal: (1) the district court violated
    his constitutional right to a jury trial, and (2) it held his complaint to a heightened
    pleading standard, contrary to Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) and Swierkiewicz v. Sorema
    N.A., 
    534 U.S. 506
    (2002).3 Mr. Johnston admits he did not raise his first argument
    in the district court, so we will not consider it here. See United States v. Nelson,
    
    868 F.3d 885
    , 891 (10th Cir. 2017) (“We generally don’t address arguments
    presented for the first time on appeal.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). And we
    3
    Mr. Johnston does not argue the district court erred by dismissing his state
    claims, so he has waived any argument on this issue. See 
    COPE, 821 F.3d at 1223
    .
    4
    reject Mr. Johnston’s second argument because he has not shown the district court
    held him to a higher standard than the law requires.
    The district court pointed out a few general problems with the amended
    complaint, including the absence of a timeline for many of the relevant events,
    “naked assertions devoid of further factual enhancement,” Aplt. App. at 132 (internal
    quotation marks omitted) and “vague and facially meaningless allegations,” 
    id. at 137-38.
    It also reviewed Mr. Johnston’s allegations in detail and considered whether
    they established plausible claims of age discrimination, retaliation, and disability
    discrimination. The district court found these claims implausible for several reasons.
    Regarding his age discrimination claim, it found Mr. Johnston failed to allege
    facts sufficient to infer that he was doing satisfactory work or that his job was filled
    by a younger person, which are necessary elements of a prima facie case. See Rivera
    v. City and County of Denver, 
    365 F.3d 912
    , 920 (10th Cir. 2004). 4
    Turning to his retaliation claim, the district court found Mr. Johnston’s
    allegation that his “internal sexual harassment charge . . . became a point for
    retaliation,” Aplt. App. at 19, did not give Hunter Douglas fair notice of the grounds
    for his claim. And it noted that Mr. Johnston alleged no facts suggesting a causal
    4
    Mr. Johnston alleged that he “satisfactorily performed his job,” Aplt. App. at
    15, but the district court found this statement conflicted with other allegations in the
    complaint. Likewise, he alleged he was “replaced by someone outside his protected
    class,” 
    id. at 20,
    but the court found it was unclear which class he was referring to.
    We agree. Moreover, such “labels and conclusions” are not enough to state a
    plausible claim. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 
    550 U.S. 544
    , 555 (2007). “All
    well-pleaded facts, as distinguished from conclusory allegations, must be taken as
    true.” Ruiz v. McDonnell, 
    299 F.3d 1173
    , 1181 (10th Cir. 2002).
    5
    connection between the harassment charge and his later termination. See Thomas v.
    Berry Plastics Corp., 
    803 F.3d 510
    , 514 (10th Cir. 2015) (when a plaintiff relies on
    circumstantial evidence of retaliation, he must establish a prima facie case by
    demonstrating that (1) he engaged in a protected activity, (2) suffered an adverse
    action, and (3) there was a causal connection between the two).
    Similarly, the district court found Mr. Johnston’s disability discrimination
    claim lacking because, despite repeatedly referring to his injury as “disabling,” he did
    not state facts suggesting he was disabled within the meaning of the ADA.
    See 42 U.S.C. § 12102(1) (defining “disability” under the ADA as “a physical or
    mental impairment that substantially limits” a major life activity, “a record of such an
    impairment,” or “being regarded as having such an impairment.”). And it found no
    allegations in the amended complaint suggesting that Mr. Johnston could do his job
    with or without reasonable accommodation, or even that Hunter Douglas
    discriminated against him due to disability. See Johnson v. Weld Cty., 
    594 F.3d 1202
    , 1217 (10th Cir. 2010) (without direct evidence of discrimination, a plaintiff
    must establish a prima facie case by showing (1) he is disabled within the meaning of
    the ADA; (2) he is qualified for the job with our without reasonable accommodation;
    and (3) his employer discriminated against him because of his disability).
    Mr. Johnston does not challenge any of these findings. Instead, he generally
    argues that the district court held his complaint to a higher standard than the law
    requires. But the law requires more than conclusory assertions—it requires enough
    factual allegations for a court to reasonably infer the defendant is liable. See Iqbal,
    
    6 556 U.S. at 678
    . The district court applied the correct standard, and Mr. Johnston
    does not explain how he met it.
    Citing Swierkiewicz, 
    534 U.S. 506
    , Mr. Johnston also suggests the district
    court improperly required him to plead facts establishing a prima facie case for each
    of his federal claims. In Swierkiewicz, which predates Iqbal and Twombly, the
    Supreme Court held that “an employment discrimination plaintiff need not plead a
    prima facie case of discrimination” to survive a motion to dismiss. 
    Id. at 515.
    But
    here, the district court recognized Mr. Johnston “need not establish a prima facie case
    of discrimination.” Aplt. App. at 129. And it did not err by discussing the elements
    of Mr. Johnston’s claims in its order. Indeed, we have recognized that “the elements
    of each alleged cause of action help to determine whether [the p]laintiff has set forth
    a plausible claim.” Khalik v. United Air Lines, 
    671 F.3d 1188
    , 1192 (10th Cir. 2012);
    see also 
    Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 675
    (“[W]e begin by taking note of the elements a
    plaintiff must plead to state a claim . . . .”).
    In short, Mr. Johnston has not shown the district court held his complaint to a
    higher standard than the law requires.
    III. Conclusion
    We affirm the district court’s order dismissing Mr. Johnston’s claims.
    Entered for the Court
    Scott M. Matheson, Jr.
    Circuit Judge
    7