Foster v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
- Nelson Roman
- 7:18-cv-01706
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Foster v. UPS America, Judge Roman partly granted and partly denied dismissal motions, dismissed Foster III, consolidated actions, and stayed discovery.
Matthew J. Foster and the UPS entities involved in the four related cases. Foster III was dismissed; certain claims and defenses in the other cases remained subject to repleading, consolidation, and further proceedings, while discovery was stayed during Foster’s administrative process before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
What happened
Matthew J. Foster brought four related cases against UPS Freight, Inc. and/or United Parcel Service of America, Inc., asserting disability discrimination and retaliation claims. The cases were identified as Foster I, II, III, and IV.
The defendants argued that some cases duplicated Foster I, that Foster II and III named the wrong employer, and that some claims were preempted by federal labor law. Foster sought permission to amend his complaint. A magistrate judge recommended partly granting and partly denying the dismissal motion, denying sanctions, and allowing amendment.
In Foster v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc., Judge Nelson Roman adopted that recommendation. The court partly granted and partly denied the dismissal motion, dismissed Foster III, allowed certain claims to be repleaded, consolidated the remaining actions if properly repleaded, and stayed discovery while Foster pursued administrative remedies before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The detailed version
- Foster v. United Parcel Service of America, Inc. · No. 7:18-cv-01706
- Nelson Roman
- Feb. 8, 2022
Background
Matthew J. Foster brought four separate actions asserting multiple claims, including disability-based discrimination and retaliation, against UPS Freight, Inc. and/or United Parcel Service of America, Inc. The actions were identified as Foster I, Foster II, Foster III, and Foster IV. In Foster I, UPS America was dismissed with prejudice under a joint stipulation, and the parties stipulated that UPS Freight was Foster’s employer. The later actions named UPS America as the sole defendant.
The defendant moved to dismiss Foster I, Foster III, and Foster IV and sought sanctions. Foster moved for leave to file an amended complaint. Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith issued a report and recommendation recommending that the dismissal motion be granted in part and denied in part, that the sanctions motion be denied, and that Foster’s motion to amend be granted. Judge Roman reviewed the recommendation and adopted it in its entirety. The court found no clear error in the magistrate judge’s analysis; to the extent the objections specifically challenged particular findings, the court also conducted a more searching review and adopted the recommendation’s analysis and conclusions.
Rulings
The court ruled that the defendant’s motion to dismiss was granted in part and denied in part. Specifically:
- The request to dismiss Foster II as duplicative of Foster I was denied in its entirety. - The requests to dismiss Foster III and Foster IV as duplicative were denied as to claims arising from allegations concerning Foster’s alleged pretextual termination in July 2018. - The request to dismiss Foster II and Foster III for naming the wrong defendant or employer was granted without prejudice to Foster’s right to replead UPS America’s single-employer liability in Foster II and Foster IV within 60 days. The order stated that failing to replead on time may result in outright dismissal with prejudice of Foster II and Foster III. - The request to dismiss Foster III for naming the wrong defendant and for preemption under the Labor Management Relations Act was denied. The court nevertheless deemed Foster III dismissed because its nonduplicative claims were encompassed by Foster’s proposed Fourth Amended Complaint in Foster I, which named UPS Freight as the defendant. - Assuming Foster II and Foster IV were properly repleaded, the remaining actions were consolidated.
The court also adopted the recommendation denying the sanctions motion and granting Foster leave to amend. Discovery was stayed while Foster exhausted administrative remedies before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for proposed new disability claims against UPS Freight concerning alleged events in December 2019, January 2020, and April 2020. Foster was directed to report the status of those claims within 21 days and every 30 days afterward. Judge Nelson S. Roman also directed the clerk to terminate the action identified as 18 Civ. 10925, Foster III, and to terminate the listed motions.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.