Opinion ID: 669656
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Complaints in the Present Action

Text: 36 Cornwell filed her first complaint in the present action in the district court on June 18, 1986 (the original complaint), complaining of the events from November 11, 1981, to February 26, 1983, and alleging that she was a victim of gender and race discrimination, in violation of Title VII and 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986 (1988). The original complaint named as defendants DFY, William F. Robinson, NYS Audit and its Personnel Director Luis Salem, and NYS Civil Service and its attorney Patricia Hite. Although an exhibit to the complaint detailed many of the 1981-1983 incidents described above, identifying Brewington, Baleno, Felton, and Hodges as the principal perpetrators and Albrecht, Yeres, Maffia, and Centeno as the supervisory personnel who had failed to take any action to remedy the situation, the original complaint did not name any of these individuals as defendants. The original complaint also did not describe any of the events that had occurred in 1986. 37 A lengthy period of relative inaction ensued, with Cornwell experiencing a number of misfortunes with her attorneys. The attorney who filed the original complaint was replaced by an attorney who subsequently was suspended from the practice of law; the suspended attorney was replaced by the original attorney, who unexpectedly passed away; after his death, his firm withdrew from the case. Eventually, in 1990, Cornwell's present counsel were substituted. 38 On May 20, 1992, Cornwell filed an amended complaint (the amended complaint) adding, inter alia, allegations relating to her 1986 employment at MacCormick and a claim that she had been the victim of retaliation for her 1983 filings of administrative complaints of discrimination. The amended complaint continued to name as defendants DFY, NYS Audit, and NYS Civil Service; it dropped Robinson, Salem, and Hite as defendants; and it added as new defendants Albrecht, Yeres, Eldridge, Maffia, Centeno, Hodges, Felton, Brewington, Baleno, and Fields. 39 All of the named defendants except Hodges and Baleno answered the complaint, raising, inter alia, statute-of-limitations defenses. All of those who answered, except Felton and Brewington, moved for partial summary judgment. To the extent pertinent to the present appeal, these motions contended that Cornwell's claims under 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983 and 1985 arose during her first tour of duty at MacCormick, which ended on February 23, 1983, and were therefore barred by the three-year statute of limitations; and they contended that Cornwell's Title VII claims relating to the events that occurred in 1986 were untimely because the amended complaint was not filed within 90 days after the issuance of the second EEOC right-to-sue letter. In an order dated September 25, 1992, the district court, though dismissing certain of Cornwell's claims, including the claims against NYS Audit and NYS Civil Service, rejected the motions to dismiss on statute-of-limitations grounds without comment. Prior to trial, the district court also dismissed all claims against Hodges and Baleno on the ground that those defendants had not been served with process. 40 Cornwell's undismissed claims under Title VII, Sec. 1983, and Sec. 1985 were tried before the magistrate judge and a jury, with the jury asked to render an advisory verdict with respect to the Title VII claims. 41