Opinion ID: 740018
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timely Filing of Civil Action

Text: 12 Before a claimant can file a Title VII civil action, she must file a timely charge of discrimination with the EEOC. See Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 393, 102 S.Ct. 1127, 1132, 71 L.Ed.2d 234 (1982). If the EEOC dismisses the charge, a claimant has ninety days to file a civil action. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1). This ninety-day period is a statute of limitations. Scholar v. Pacific Bell, 963 F.2d 264, 266-67 (9th Cir.1992). Therefore, if a claimant fails to file the civil action within the ninety-day period, the action is barred. Id. at 267. 13 Neither this circuit, nor any other circuit, has determined when the ninety-day period begins to run under the fact scenario in the present case. However, a review of the precedent in this circuit, as well as cases from the other circuits, is informative. 14 In Scholar v. Pacific Bell, 963 F.2d 264, 267 (9th Cir.1992), the EEOC right-to-sue notice, sent by certified mail to the claimant's place of residence, was received and signed for by the claimant's daughter on November 1, 1988. However, the claimant did not read the notice until a few days after it was delivered to her home. We held that the claimant's civil action, filed on February 2, 1989, was barred by the statute of limitations. Id. The language of the statute establishes the 90-day period as running from the 'giving of such notice' rather than from the date claimant actually 'receives' notice in hand. Id. (citing 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(1) and Espinoza v. Missouri Pac. R.R. Co., 754 F.2d 1247, 1248-50 (5th Cir.1985)). Notice was given when the right-to-sue notice was received and signed for by the claimant's daughter. Id. The civil suit was filed more than ninety days after the notice was given; therefore, we held that the civil action was time-barred. Id. at 268-72. 15 In St. Louis v. Alverno College, 744 F.2d 1314, 1315 (7th Cir.1984), the claimant never received the right-to-sue notice. The notice was mailed to the address that claimant had given to the EEOC, but was returned to the EEOC because the claimant no longer lived at that address. He had moved from the address several years prior, but had not formally informed the EEOC of his change of address. Id. Approximately nine months after the notice was sent to the claimant, an attorney contacted the EEOC on behalf of the claimant and was informed that the right-to-sue notice had already been issued. Copies of the notice were sent to the claimant, and the claimant filed a pro se complaint within ninety days of receiving the copies of the notice. Id. 16 The court held that the action was time-barred: 17 If [the claimant] had notified the EEOC that he had moved or had taken reasonable steps to ensure that he would receive mail delivered to the [address given to the EEOC], his failure to receive the notice might come within the holding of [Archie v. Chicago Truck Drivers Union, 585 F.2d 210 (7th Cir.1978), that the ninety-day period begins running on the date a claimant actually receives the right-to-sue notice]. But the basis for our decision there ... was that claimants who do not receive actual knowledge of their right-to-sue letter through no fault of their own should not be penalized. In this case, however, [claimant's] failure to tell the EEOC that he had moved was not an event beyond his control. Accordingly, we hold that the ninety-day limit began running on the date the notice was delivered to the most recent address plaintiff provided the EEOC. 18 Id. at 1317 (citation omitted). 19 In Banks v. Rockwell Int'l N. Am. Aircraft Operations, 855 F.2d 324, 325 (6th Cir.1988), the EEOC mailed the right-to-sue notice to the claimant on September 7, 1983, at the address the EEOC had on record. The post office returned the right-to-sue notice to the EEOC with the explanation that the claimant had moved and left no address. Id. Approximately four months later, claimant's counsel sent a letter to the EEOC requesting a right-to-sue notice. This letter failed to provide the EEOC with the claimant's current address. 20 Claimant's counsel sent another letter to the EEOC after he became aware that the EEOC had previously issued a right-to-sue notice. The letter from counsel explained that the claimant had not been living at the address provided to the EEOC due to a divorce, and that the claimant's wife had not forwarded his mail. The letter also provided the EEOC with the claimant's then current address and requested that a right-to-sue notice be reissued to the claimant at that address. The EEOC reissued the right-to-sue notice on March 15, 1984, and the claimant filed a civil action in district court on June 7, 1984. The district court dismissed the action, finding it barred by the limitations period. 21 In upholding the dismissal, the Sixth Circuit stated that where a claimant has failed to notify the EEOC of a change of address, the ninety-day period begins running five days after the date on which the EEOC mailed the notice to the claimant's address of record. Id. at 326 (citing Hunter v. Stephenson Roofing, Inc., 790 F.2d 472, 475 (6th Cir.1986)). Because the EEOC had mailed the claimant's right-to-sue notice on September 7, 1983, the ninety-day period began to run five days later. The civil complaint, filed June 7, 1984, was not within the ninety-day statutory period and was therefore time-barred. Id. at 326-27. 22 In the present case, the right-to-sue notice was sent by certified mail on March 18, 1994, to the Moanalua address that Nelmida had given to the EEOC. The post office attempted delivery of the letter on March 19, 1994, at the Moanalua address, as indicated by the handwritten date 3/19 on the envelope. Because no one was at home to receive the letter, the post office left a notice that delivery had been attempted and that the letter was available at the post office for pick up. The post office left a second notice at the Moanalua address on March 25, 1994, indicating that there were ten days remaining to pick up the letter or to request redelivery. The letter remained at the post office, awaiting pick up, until April 3, 1994. Because Nelmida failed to pick the letter up, it was returned to the EEOC as unclaimed. 23 Nelmida did not file suit until July 6, 1994, more than one hundred days after delivery of the original right-to-sue notice was attempted at the address of record with the EEOC. We hold that the ninety-day period within which to file suit began running when delivery of the right-to-sue notice was attempted at the address of record with the EEOC and that Nelmida's Title VII action is therefore time-barred. See St. Louis, 744 F.2d at 1317.