JOYNER v. NATIONWIDE HOTEL MANAGEMENT COMPANY LLC, No. 4:2020cv00042 - Document 47 (M.D. Ga. 2021)
Court Description: ORDER granting 31 Motion for Summary Judgment(); denying 22 Motion to Strike Ordered by US DISTRICT JUDGE CLAY D LAND on 03/08/2021 (CCL)
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JOYNER v. NATIONWIDE HOTEL MANAGEMENT COMPANY LLC Doc. 47 Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 1 of 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA COLUMBUS DIVISION DOROTHEA L. JOYNER, * Plaintiff, * vs. * NATIONWIDE HOTEL MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLC f/k/a WOODSPRING HOTELS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, LLC, * Defendant. CASE NO. 4:20-cv-42 (CDL) * * O R D E R Dorothea Nationwide Joyner Hotel intentional alleges Management infliction management-level of that Company, emotional employees, her former LLC, subjected distress including employer, her because Joyner’s to two direct supervisor, spread a false rumor throughout the workplace and corporate office that Joyner was not qualified for her job and had been promoted only because she had a sexual affair with her former The boss. complaint contained Court previously sufficient concluded factual true, to avoid summary dismissal. that allegations, Joyner’s taken as Joyner v. Nationwide Hotel Mgmt. Co., No. 4:20-CV-42 (CDL), 2020 WL 5046869, at *3-*4 (M.D. Ga. Aug. 26, 2020). claims. judgment See on The Court dismissed all of Joyner’s other generally the id. intentional Nationwide infliction of now seeks emotional summary distress Dockets.Justia.com Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 2 of 9 claim, arguing that Joyner cannot prove the essential elements of her claim. strike Joyner, on the other hand, asks the Court to Nationwide’s defenses from its answer. As discussed below, Joyner’s motion to strike (ECF No. 22) is denied, and Nationwide’s summary judgment motion (ECF No. 31) is granted. I. Joyner’s Motion to Strike (ECF No. 22) Court The pleading. may strike an “insufficient Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(f). sixteen “separate defenses.” defense” from a Nationwide’s answer contains Answer 11-13, ECF No. 20. wants the Court to strike them all. Joyner Her main contention is that Nationwide did not allege enough facts to support the defenses. But most of these defenses are fairly read as denials of Joyner’s allegations, and all of them give Joyner notice of the nature raise. of the defenses and the issues Nationwide intends to The Court thus finds that Joyner’s arguments raised in her motion to strike lack merit. In particular, her request to strike the fifteenth defense—the defense most pertinent to the present motion for summary judgment—is denied. essentially a denial of Joyner’s allegations intentional infliction of emotional distress. Joyner on notice that Nationwide That defense is intends regarding This defense puts to argue that she cannot meet her burden of proving the elements of the claim, including the element of severe emotional distress. finds no basis to strike it. 2 The Court Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 3 of 9 Nationwide’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 31) II. Nationwide remaining seeks claim: her summary claim judgment for on Joyner’s intentional lone infliction of Summary judgment may be granted only “if emotional distress. 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). In determining whether a genuine dispute of material fact exists to defeat a motion for summary judgment, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, drawing all justifiable inferences in the opposing party’s favor. v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986). Anderson A fact is material if it is relevant or necessary to the outcome of the suit. Id. at 248. would allow a reasonable nonmoving party. A. A factual dispute is genuine if the evidence jury to return a verdict for the Id. Factual Background Viewed in the light most favorable to Joyner, the present record reveals the following hotels in Columbus, Georgia. facts. Nationwide operates two The hotels are next to each other and are referred to by the parties as Building 1 and Building 2. Joyner began representative. working in Building 2 as a guest services Her direct supervisor was Nelwyn Smith, and her second level supervisor was Bill Mark. 3 After working at the Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 4 of 9 hotel for approximately seven months, Joyner was offered a promotion to be general manager of Building 2, and Smith was to be transferred to Building 1. Joyner asserts that after her promotion was announced but before she began her new role, Smith began to resent her. reported directly assigned to a to new After Joyner Mark. began Several region and her new months Robyn Evans role, she Mark was later, became Joyner’s supervisor. Shortly after Joyner’s promotion was announced, an employee told Joyner there was a rumor circulating about her: Smith said that Joyner had received the because she slept with Mark. promotion to general manager Joyner overheard Smith tell Evans the same rumor, and she heard from other employees on several occasions that Smith was saying because she slept with Mark. that she got the promotion This rumor was false; Joyner did not have an affair with Mark. Around the same time Joyner overheard Smith tell Evans the rumor, Evans told Joyner that she needed to improve her work and placed Joyner on a performance improvement plan. Joyner believes that she was only placed on the performance improvement plan because stress of because improvement plan. her emotional Smith’s of rumor. Smith’s Joyner rumor and began to Evans’s experience performance Joyner did not seek any medical treatment for distress, and she 4 did not see a psychologist, Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 5 of 9 psychiatrist, or counselor. Joyner Dep. 190:24-191:7, ECF No. One of Joyner’s children stated that 33. almost daily.” J. Edley Aff. ¶ 13, Joyner would “cry ECF No. 35-6. Joyner asserts that she felt “pressure [to] outperform” and do her best so she could “show” her employer that she was qualified for her job. Joyner Dep. 165:4-9, 188:9-16. Joyner was determined not to go down because of the rumor, and she wanted to stay strong for her family. level, was a Joyner contends that she performed at a high model employee, and even outperformed Smith. Joyner also did well in her online university classes that she took while working at the hotel. at Id. 13:5-7, 14:16-21. Joyner claims that notwithstanding her efforts, Evans terminated her employment. ended, she organization Soon after Joyner’s employment with Nationwide began an enjoyable, for which she had rewarding, been continued her university education. paid job volunteering, at and an she E.g., Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. 10-11, ECF No. 35. B. To emotional reckless Discussion establish a distress, conduct (2) claim Joyner that for must is intentional prove extreme and (1) infliction of intentional or outrageous causes emotional distress (4) that is severe. and (3) Plantation at Bay Creek Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Glasier, 825 S.E.2d 542, 550 (Ga. Ct. App. 2019). She must prove all four elements. 5 Without Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 6 of 9 severe emotional infliction present of distress, emotional enough evidence Joyner’s distress to claim fails, establish for even intentional if Joyner intentional or did reckless outrageous conduct that caused some distress and a sufficient basis for holding employees. Nationwide liable for the acts of its See id. (stating that all four elements—including severe emotional distress—must be present to support a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress). “Emotional distress includes all highly unpleasant mental reactions such embarrassment, nausea.” as fright, anger, horror, chagrin, grief, shame, disappointment, worry, and Id. at 551 (quoting Abdul-Malik v. AirTran Airways, Inc., 678 S.E.2d 555, 560 (Ga. Ct. App. 2009)). arises humiliation, where emotional distress Abdul-Malik, 678 S.E.2d at 560). is “extreme.” Liability only Id. (quoting “The law intervenes only where the distress inflicted is so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it.” S.E.2d at 560). Georgia Court Id. (quoting Abdul-Malik, 678 In Plantation at Bay Creek, for example, the of Appeals found that established severe emotional distress. plaintiff “suffered headaches for the plaintiff Id. at 551. approximately a had not There, the week” and mentioned “them to her doctor during her annual physical,” and she experienced “fears for her safety and that of her children” after her homeowners association encouraged its members to cross 6 Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 7 of 9 her property to access a lake. The Id. Georgia Court of Appeals found that these feelings, “while certainly unpleasant, [did] not reasonable constitute person emotional could be distress expected to (quoting Abdul-Malik, 678 S.E.2d at 560). ‘so severe endure that it.’” no Id. Likewise, in Abdul- Malik, the Georgia Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff had not established severe distress; although he had trouble sleeping and gained weight, there was no evidence that he took medication or sought professional help. at 560. Abdul-Malik, 678 S.E.2d “While unpleasant, the sleeplessness and weight gain are not so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure them.” Id. Joyner contends that she suffered stress and anxiety and cried often because of Smith and Evans’s conduct. She does not assert that she had any other symptoms. She admits that she never counseling sought any emotional distress. medical treatment or for her She emphasizes that she tried to rise above the rumor and show Nationwide that she was qualified for her job by performing at a high level and being a model employee. And Joyner insists that she did a great job despite the stress—that she chose “fighting intervention.” back over seeking emotional distress Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. 10. Based on this record, the Court cannot find that Joyner suffered 7 Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 8 of 9 emotional distress so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it. Joyner suffered compares by the her emotional plaintiffs in distress Lightning to v. the distress Roadway Express, Inc., Anderson v. Chatham, and Coleman v. Housing Authority of But those cases there was evidence Americus. Lightning, conduct which caused the included are easily that plaintiff to manifestations employer’s the suffer of distinguishable. “a outrageous psychotic paranoid In episode delusions” and resulted in the plaintiff being hospitalized in a mental health facility. 60 F.3d 1551, 1555, 1558 (11th Cir. 1995). In Anderson, there was evidence that the plaintiff’s boss’s twoyear pattern of abusive behavior and threats caused a flare-up of the plaintiff’s manifestations.” in supervisor’s plaintiff constant manifestations and “significant like presented sexual (Ga. Ct. App. 1989). symptoms and evidence harassment headaches and chest symptoms like despondency and depression. these physical 379 S.E.2d 793, 800 (Ga. Ct. App. 1989). the Coleman, ulcer that caused pains And her physical and mental 381 S.E.2d 303, 305 The plaintiff sought medical treatment for was hospitalized for pain and recurring headaches that her doctor attributed at least in part to jobrelated stress. present any Id. at 306. evidence of In contrast, here, Joyner did not any 8 serious prolonged physical Case 4:20-cv-00042-CDL Document 47 Filed 03/08/21 Page 9 of 9 manifestations of her stress aside from alleged crying, and she did not present any evidence that her stress was so severe that it required medical or psychological treatment. relies v. on Nicholson Windham, where Joyner also the plaintiff’s intentional infliction of emotional distress claim survived a motion to severe emotional standard. dismiss because the plaintiff under distress Georgia’s adequately liberal 571 S.E.2d 466, 470 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002). alleged pleading This case, though, is past the pleading stage, and Joyner was obligated to point to evidence of severe emotional distress. She did not. Without evidence that Joyner suffered severe emotional distress, her claim fails. for Since intentional Joyner’s infliction intentional of emotional infliction of distress emotional distress claim fails because she did not prove severe emotional distress, Nationwide is entitled to summary judgment, and the Court need not evaluate the other elements of this claim. CONCLUSION For the reasons set forth above, Joyner’s motion to strike (ECF No. 22) is denied and Nationwide’s summary judgment motion (ECF No. 31) is granted. IT IS SO ORDERED, this 8th day of March, 2021. S/Clay D. Land CLAY D. LAND U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA 9
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