Opinion ID: 420749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: application of laches

Text: 40 In order for laches to bar Cannon's claims against the five defendants, the defendants must demonstrate: (1) lack of diligence by the party against whom the defense is asserted, and (2) prejudice to the party asserting the defense. Costello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265, 282, 81 S.Ct. 534, 543, 5 L.Ed.2d 551 (1961). 9 In a case such as this, in which there is no dispute as to the material facts, the district court's decision that laches bars the action is subject to review by the abuse of discretion standard. See EEOC v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc., 622 F.2d 271, 276 (7th Cir.1980).
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.
47 Turning to the second prong of the test for laches, Cannon asserts that the prejudice must be to the defendant's ability to conduct his defense. In support, Cannon cites EEOC v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc., 622 F.2d 271, 275 (7th Cir.1980). The defendants differ with Cannon's narrow reading of the prejudice requirement, relying on language in Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U.S. 392, 396, 66 S.Ct. 582, 584, 90 L.Ed. 743 (1946) (quoting Galliher v. Cadwell, 145 U.S. 368, 373, 12 S.Ct. 873, 875, 36 L.Ed. 738 (1892)): 48 Equity has acted on the principle that laches is not like limitation, a mere matter of time, but principally a question of the inequity of permitting the claim to be enforced--an inequity founded upon some change in the condition or relations of the property or the parties. 49 Although the defendants assert that they are prejudiced by Cannon's delay in filing the instant suit they do not contend on appeal that their ability to defend the action has been diminished. Determining the kind of prejudice that must be demonstrated in the instant action is therefore a critical threshold question. 50
51 The standard articulated in Massey-Ferguson is predicated on language in Occidental Life Insurance Co. v. EEOC, 432 U.S. 355, 97 S.Ct. 2447, 53 L.Ed.2d 402 (1977), in which the Court held that neither Title VII nor state statutes of limitations set an inflexible limit for the EEOC's filing of an action after exhaustion of its conciliation efforts. Id. at 366, 370-71, 97 S.Ct. at 2454, 2456-57. The Court noted that the absence of inflexible time limitations should not prejudice defendants. After enumerating various procedural safeguards, the Court stated: 52 It is, of course, possible that despite these procedural protections a defendant in a Title VII enforcement action might still be significantly handicapped in making his defense because of an inordinate EEOC delay in filing the action after exhausting its conciliation efforts. If such cases arise the federal courts do not lack the power to provide relief. 53 Id. at 373, 97 S.Ct. at 2458. There is no indication, however, in either the Occidental Life or the Massey-Ferguson opinion that the prejudice standard applicable to laches in a suit filed by a party other than the EEOC need be limited to the defendant's ability to present his defense. 54 First, the Occidental Life opinion did not utilize the term laches. Instead, the Court referred generally to the power inherent in the federal courts to alleviate any prejudicial impact resulting from delay by the EEOC. 432 U.S. at 373, 97 S.Ct. at 2458. Second, the Occidental Life Court made no reference to, and certainly no attempt to distinguish, cases such as Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U.S. 392, 66 S.Ct. 582, 90 L.Ed. 743 (1946), in which the prejudice prong of the laches defense had been stated more broadly. These factors strongly suggest that both the Supreme Court, in Occidental Life, and this court, in Massey-Ferguson, were merely articulating the rule appropriate to an action in which the EEOC is the plaintiff and that neither court intended its language to limit the availability of laches in a non-EEOC action. 55 This conclusion is further supported by the rationale of Occidental Life. The Court relied upon the unique circumstances surrounding an EEOC case: the relatively short and well defined time limits governing the plaintiff's filing of his charge with the agency, the sizeable backlog of cases handled by the EEOC, and the on-going notice to a potential defendant once the initial charge is filed with the agency. 432 U.S. at 370, 372-73, 97 S.Ct. at 2456, 2457-58. These factors together mandated flexible time limits in any case brought by the EEOC. One aspect of that flexibility is that a court's power to grant relief because of the EEOC's delay is limited to the situation in which the defendant's ability to present a defense is curtailed. These factors are absent, however, in a private action and, as a result, there is no basis for so limiting a court's equitable power to grant relief from delay. 56 The instant appeal is not an action filed by the EEOC, or by any administrative agency. It is a private discrimination suit. Cannon's having sought administrative action against Rush and SIU in 1975 and 1976 does not bring this case within the Massey-Ferguson rule. Whatever notice the two defendants might have received from administrative authorities is insignificant in light of the total lack of communication between the Office of Civil Rights and any defendant between 1976 and 1979. The on-going communication that characterized an EEOC action in the view of the Occidental Life court is completely absent in the present case. The sizeable backlog carried by the EEOC, another factor in which the Occidental Life 10 Court relied, is irrelevant to this action filed by Cannon. 57 In order to prevail on a defense of laches, the defendants in this case must demonstrate some prejudicial  'change in the condition or relations of the ... parties.'  Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U.S. 392, 396, 66 S.Ct. 582, 584, 90 L.Ed. 743 (1946) (quoting Galliher v. Cadwell, 145 U.S. 368, 373, 12 S.Ct. 873, 875, 36 L.Ed. 738 (1892)), but need not necessarily demonstrate that they are unable to conduct their defense as a result of the delay. 58
59 The prejudice asserted by the defendants is that their admissions standards have changed significantly since Cannon was first rejected. The 1977 revision of the MCAT is largely responsible for the different standards because the new test emphasizes scientific knowledge and problem-solving skills to a greater degree than did the version of the test taken by Cannon. The defendants argue that, as a result, Cannon's position vis a vis other applicants and the defendants has changed. Requiring the defendants to consider Cannon on the basis of her 1974 application would, in their view, impinge upon the defendants' right to select their own students and would operate to the prejudice of other candidates. The defendants also argue that Cannon's admission on the basis of her 1974 application would be detrimental to their policy of requiring annual reapplication by candidates who are not admitted pursuant to their first application to the medical school. The district court held that this uncontroverted showing fulfilled the prejudice prong of the laches defense. We must determine whether the district judge abused his discretion in so holding. 60 The interest of a medical school in selecting its student body is well established. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 312, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 2759, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978), Justice Powell stated: 61 Academic freedom, though not a specifically enumerated constitutional right, long has been viewed as a special concern of the First Amendment. The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body. 62 On this appeal from a grant of summary judgment, we must assume that, absent enforcement of discriminatory policies by the defendants, Cannon would have been admitted to the defendant medical schools pursuant to the 1974 applications. This does not establish, however, that Cannon would be similarly competitive--or that she would receive an offer of admission--if she took the revised MCAT, reapplied to the medical schools, and was evaluated in comparison with other persons applying in the same year. 11 If Cannon were granted the relief she seeks, she would be admitted to medical school without regard to whether she is qualified in comparison with those students entering medical school at the same time as she. For a court to order such action in an area which so vitally concerns the health and well being of every human being could well be an abuse of the court's equitable power. Because medical school facilities are limited, the result might also be a denial of admission to another candidate more qualified than Cannon. These consequences impinge upon the defendants' right to select student bodies of their own choosing and are particularly serious when the purpose of the selection process is to provide training to those persons best qualified to serve society through the practice of medicine. 63 Cannon's assertion that such prejudice in insufficient in light of the remedy granted in Bakke is misplaced. Cannon relies upon the fact that the Supreme Court ordered the Medical School of the University of California at Davis to admit Bakke despite the intervening revision of the MCAT. Cannon's argument overlooks the fact that laches was not asserted in Bakke and therefore any prejudice resulting from revision of the MCAT or other changes in the admission process at Davis was not at issue. 64 The district judge did not abuse his discretion in holding that the defendant medical schools would be prejudiced if they were required to admit Cannon on the basis of her 1974 applications.