Opinion ID: 6931499
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Tolling Effect of the Pending Office for Civil Rights Inquiry

Text: As discussed below, Dr. Fobbs fails to meet the threshold requirements to benefit from the equitable tolling doctrine. Thus, the running of the statute of limitations should not be tolled from September 1988 to September 1989, the period during which the OCR investigated Dr. Fobbs’ claim. 1. Inconsistency with Federal Policy Dr. Fobbs has made no showing that applying the equitable tolling doctrine to his § 1981 claim would not be inconsistent with federal policy. 2. Remedies for Distinct Wrongs Dr. Fobbs argues that his Title VI grievance through the OCR addresses the same wrongs as his § 1981 claim in federal court because in both cases, he seeks to show that defendants have discriminated against him on the basis of his race by imposing monitoring and supervision requirements on him. See Johnson v. Greater Southeast Community Hosp. Corp., 951 F.2d 1268, 1275 (D.C.Cir.1991). This issue is governed by Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, 421 U.S. 454, 95 S.Ct. 1716, 44 L.Ed.2d 295 (1975). In Railway Express Agency, plaintiff filed charges with the EEOC, which over three years later notified him that he had a right to institute a Title VII civil action against his employer. In addition to his timely filed Title VII action, plaintiff also alleged violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The Court held that plaintiffs § 1981 action was time-barred, even though plaintiff delayed bringing the § 1981 suit because he was waiting in good faith for the EEOC’s recommendation. The Court concluded that “the remedies available under Title VII and under § 1981, although related, and although directed to most of the same ends, are separate, distinct, and independent.” The court added that it would not, “in the face of congressional emphasis upon the existence and independence of the two remedies, ... infer any positive preference for one over the other, without a more definite egression in the legislation Congress has enacted, as, for example, a proscription of a § 1981 action while an EEOC claim is pending.” Id. at 461, 95 S.Ct. at 1721. The same reasoning applies to this case. Dr. Fobbs pursued his claim with the OCR. Congress has not proscribed civil rights plaintiffs from filing § 1981 actions while an OCR investigation is pending. Furthermore, Dr. Fobbs has made only a conclusory showing, insufficient under Railway Express Agency, that the OCR procedures and his § 1981 claim were designed to address the same wrongs and grant the same remedies. See Chambers v. Omaha Public School Dist., 536 F.2d 222, 230-31 (8th Cir.1976) (“The remedies available under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the one hand, and § 1981 and § 1983 on the other, are completely separate and independent.”).