Opinion ID: 420749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lack of Diligence

Text: 41 The determination as to whether Cannon demonstrated a lack of diligence in filing this suit turns on whether the delay was both unreasonable and inexcusable. In EEOC v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc., 622 F.2d 271, 276 (7th Cir.1980), this court upheld the district court's finding that a delay of four years, nine months between the time charges were filed with the agency and the time the complaint was filed was unreasonable. Other cases, involving the EEOC as plaintiff and delays ranging from three years, seven months to four years, ten months, have similarly resulted in a finding that the delay was unreasonable. See EEOC v. Liberty Loan Corp., 584 F.2d 853 (8th Cir.1978) (delay of four years, four months); EEOC v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 450 F.Supp. 792 (E.D.Mo.1978), aff'd in relevant part, 592 F.2d 484 (8th Cir.1979) (delays of three years, seven months to four years, seven months); EEOC v. American Machine & Foundry, Inc., 13 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1634 (M.D.Pa.1976) (delay of four years, ten months). In light of the heavy caseload carried by the EEOC, a burden that has been recognized by the Supreme Court, see Occidental Life Insurance Co. v. EEOC, 432 U.S. 355, 364, 370, 97 S.Ct. 2447, 2453, 2456, 53 L.Ed.2d 402 (1977), the findings of unreasonable delay in the above-cited cases are particularly significant. 42 In the instant case, Cannon's delay in filing suit ranged from three years, eight months in the case of Illinois (from the date of her second rejection by that medical school) to nearly five years in the case of the other defendants. Massey-Ferguson supports the district court's holding that this was an unreasonable time delay. We next consider whether the delay was excusable. 43 Cannon's primary argument is that she could not file this suit until the question whether Title IX provided a private right of action was resolved in her suit against Chicago and Northwestern. In the patent context, where the issue of other pending litigation is frequently an issue, this court has held that the existence of other pending litigation over the patent does not automatically excuse delay in the bringing of the suit. Advanced Hydraulics, Inc. v. Otis Elevator Co., 525 F.2d 477, 480 (7th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 869, 96 S.Ct. 132, 46 L.Ed.2d 99. 44 The relief available to Cannon under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 is identical to that available under Title IX. The uncertainty as to whether Title IX provides for a private right of action, prior to the Supreme Court's holding in 1979 that it does so permit, cannot excuse Cannon's delay in filing suit against SIU and Illinois because she could have sought the same relief pursuant to Section 1983. Judge Robson also correctly rejected Cannon's assertion that she might have been subject to sanctions had she filed the present case under Title IX during the pendency of the appeal in the suit against Chicago and Northwestern. Dismissal of the complaint--and certainly any sanctions against Cannon--would have been inappropriate because the case was against different defendants and alleged causes of action under the Age Act and Section 1983 as well as the Title IX claim. Inclusion of a cause of action based on Title IX could have been justified on the ground that Cannon sought to preserve her rights against these defendants. 45 Cannon's attempts to secure administrative resolution of her claims similarly do not excuse a delay of this length. Her administrative complaints were filed against SIU and Rush in 1975 and 1976. The lack of any agency action compelled Cannon to file a revised discrimination complaint in 1979. It should have been apparent to Cannon long before November, 1979, when this suit was filed, that no administrative resolution was imminent. 46 Judge Robson's determination that Cannon's delay in filing this suit was inexcusable is not erroneous. The district court was correct in concluding that a lack of diligence, the first prong of the showing required for laches, was demonstrated. See Costello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265, 282, 81 S.Ct. 534, 543, 5 L.Ed.2d 551 (1961). We next address whether the defendants demonstrated that they were prejudiced by this unreasonable and inexcusable delay.