United States District Court, W.D. Kentucky, Louisville Division
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
David
J. Hale, Judge.
Plaintiff
Ede Warner, Jr., [1] filed the instant pro se civil
action proceeding in forma pauperis. This matter is
now before the Court on initial review of the complaint
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) and McGore v.
Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1997),
overruled on other grounds by Jones v. Bock, 549
U.S. 199 (2007). Upon initial screening of the complaint, the
instant action will be dismissed for the reasons that follow.
I.
Plaintiff
originally filed this action in the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Indiana, but that court
transferred the case here. Plaintiff names the following
Defendants: Governor Matt Bevin; University of Louisville
(UL) President James Ramsey; UL officials or employees Leslie
Strohm, Angela Koshewa, Sam Connally, Malinda Durbin, and
Shirley Willihnganz; the UL Board of Trustees; Jefferson
County Attorney Mike O'Connell; “Jefferson County
Kentucky Attorney's Office, Child Support
Division”; Jacob Payne, whom he identifies as employed
by the “PageOne Kentucky; Ville Voice”; and the
“Louisville Branch of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.”
As his
statement of the claim, Plaintiff states that after receiving
tenure as a professor at UL, in 2000, he “was invited
to create a University Diversity Initiative.” Plaintiff
states, “In 2006, 2009, and 2011, I was involved in
three personal and professional conflicts against several
current and former students, staff, and faculty, all were
Black.” He states, “However, the retaliation
system that was directed by Angela Koshewa, the University
Counsel, and clearly involved Human Resources, Malinda Durbin
and Sam Connally, as well as others as ordered, chose to
participate in all of these events until I was separated in a
way that breached the University's contractual
obligations regarding my professional career.”
Plaintiff
then makes reference to an August 2015 Kentucky Supreme Court
case which he states ruled in favor of Mary Banker in a suit
against UL. He states, “The case establishes a system
of retaliation existed between the Legal Department and Human
Resources as early as 2008. This proves as material fact a
retaliation system existed at UofL run by University Counsel
and involving Human Resources.” Plaintiff also states,
“In February 2015, fired Human Resources Vice
President, Sam Connally files a retaliation lawsuit against
the University of Louisville.” According to Plaintiff,
the lawsuit claimed that Connally was the target of
retaliation in October 2014 for filing a grievance against
the Provost “in part for condoning that the Legal
Department lied to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission in an attempt to overturn a 2012 race
discrimination finding by Human Resources against the
Financial Aid Office.” Plaintiff states, “As VP
for Human Resources, Connally would have insider knowledge of
the existence of a retaliation system, whether his
allegations were true, ie., whether he was the target or
not.”
Plaintiff
further states as follows:
This action addresses three different aspects of this
conspiracy: in the beginning, a conspiracy inside the
University of Louisville using a retaliation system to breach
the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and breach
tenure, intellectual property, and academic freedom
contractual obligations that started among members within
UofL and was all racially-motivated; second, beginning in
2009 with my press conference after my arrest, the conspiracy
grew to agents outside the University, specifically, the
Jefferson County Attorney's office directed by Mike
O'Connell, the Louisville Branch of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, Jacob Payne, and many others, some
that I can't prove yet, both inside and outside Kentucky;
third, and finally, agents engaging in a racially motivated
Section 1983 conspiracy by using an illegal legal strategy to
create strategic flexibility regarding the entire cover-up by
President James Ramsey, University Attorney's Angela
Koshewa and Leslie Strohm, and Governor Matt Bevin[].
Plaintiff
describes Count 1 as “[a] UofL Conspiracy to engage in
and cover-up a Breach of Contract and Breach of Covenant of
Good Faith and Fair Dealing in my 2011 Separation Agreement
that was Racially Motivated.” Plaintiff recounts what
he describes as racially-motivated actions taken against him
by UL officials dating back to 2006. He states that he was
arrested in 2009 and that the prosecutor worked with UL
“to assure a conviction without a trial, since they
were lacking evidence . . . .” Plaintiff states that he
ultimately pleaded guilty to the charges out of
“fear.” He reports that he “filed a racial
discriminatory harassment complaint against several
University officials, including the University
counsel.” He states that the complaint “alleged
that after my arrest on July 6, 2009, University officials
engaged in a series of acts of harassment and violation of
University policy, in addition to those described above since
2004 . . . .” Plaintiff goes on to describe a number of
actions taken against him in 2011 by UL officials. He states
that he filed an EEOC complaint in July 2011 and that he
settled the complaint with UL.
Plaintiff
identifies Claim 2 as “[a] Conspiracy between Uof L and
other Actors to engage in and cover-up a Breach of Contract
and Breach of Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing in my
2011 Separation Agreement that was Racially Motivated.”
Plaintiff states under the sub-heading “2013”:
“Over the next year, acts that breached the voluntary
settlement continued, plus I knew the settlement
‘lowballed' even though I didn't fully
understand the valid legal reasons for it, focusing on the
misconduct, not the contractual obligations, and on top of
that, the harassment and surveillance didn't end.”
He continues, “So I went to the EEOC and filed another
complaint in Indianapolis, then initiated legal action in
Western Kentucky Federal District Court.” He describes
a previous case filed in this Court, Warner v. University
of Louisville, Civil Action No. 3:12-cv-395-JGH. He
makes a variety of complaints about the handling of that case
and the evidence presented therein.
Plaintiff
next states under the heading “2014”: “In
April, 2014, the Jefferson County Attorney's Office,
Child Support Division executed a child support order by
Motriyo Isles-Warner against me.” He complains that the
amount he was ordered to pay assumed that he was still making
the same salary at UL that he was making in 2009. He states
that because of a delay in receiving mailings he was over $5,
000 in arrears. According to the complaint, Plaintiff tried
to contact the Jefferson County Attorney's Office about
an adjustment to the amount to no avail. Plaintiff states
that a garnishment was issued at two places of employment and
that he was not rehired at either job. Plaintiff states,
“In addition to the obvious harassment and misconduct
in the execution and notification of the order, it should
have been created through legal process outlined in the
Uniform Family Support Act.” He continues, “While
Kentucky had the right to create the order, absent the
perjured application, as well as having the right to enforce
the order in Indiana, according to Federal law, the State
procedures are clear that the local Kentucky office should
have assisted in the modification.” He maintains that
the Child Support Office should have stopped the execution of
the order pending an investigation and adjustment.
Plaintiff
describes Claim 3 as “A Racially Motivated Section 1983
Conspiracy Covering Up the Use of an Illegal Legal Strategy
Relative to the Crimes in Counts 1, 2.” In support of
this claim, Plaintiff states as follows:
The June 17, 2016 Executive Order executed by Governor Bevin
to eliminate the entire existing University of Louisville
Board of Trustees, had a subtext that wasn't part of the
broader discussion. Bevin is obstructing the UofL Board of
Trustees from ending President Ramsey's strategy of
hiding the announcement of UofL's misconduct related to
my wrongful termination, as he tries to buy time in another
case that is related, Connally v. UofL. Connally is the Human
Resources Vice President that engaged in misconduct against
me to cover up the negligence against me by Malinda Durbin,
UofL's former sexual harassment officer that attempted
and failed to have me arrested on January 11, 2011, where a
judge said the evidence lacked probable cause for the crimes
of harassing and stalking. Connally is suing the University
for retaliation, using my story and the massive liability it
carries, as leverage to try and coerce Uof L into a
settlement.
The decision to eliminate the existing board, and cover it up
with a 3 person all African American temporary board is
racially motivated as a further attempt to keep the media off
the race angle or in the event that Connally goes public,
Bevin won't look like he is complicit in knowing about
the racially-motivated breaches of contract, ...