Opinion ID: 2058634
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: delay as the basis for relief against the employer

Text: Inviting our attention to the chronology described in our Prologue, Ms. Harris invites us to find that she was prejudiced by the substantial delays and that she is therefore entitled to prevail. FHA understandably responds that it was not responsible for the delays, that it too has been prejudiced, [6] and that it is illogical to grant relief to one innocent litigant against another innocent litigant on the basis of delays occasioned by the very agency which was supposed to provide a prompt and impartial resolution of their dispute. This court has stated that individuals or the public should not be made to suffer for the dereliction of public officers. J.G.B. Properties, Inc. v. District of Columbia Office of Human Rights, 364 A.2d 1183, 1185 (D.C.1976), quoting from 2A SUTHERLAND, STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION § 57.19, at 445 (Rev. 3d ed. 1973). In Choate v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 402 F.2d 357, 361 (7th Cir.1968), the court held under somewhat comparable circumstances that the complainant should not be made the innocent victim of a dereliction of statutory duty on the part of the commission.       [He] should not be made to suffer innocently for administrative delays for which he is not responsible. Accord, Dent v. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co., 406 F.2d 399, 403 (5th Cir. 1969). What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; this employer cannot be held liable as a result of the failure of the Commission to do its job on time. [7] If Ms. Harris was aggrieved by the pace at which the Commission was proceeding, she could have requested expedition, or even petitioned the court for a writ of mandamus. Having taken none of these steps, she cannot invoke the unfortunate passage of time, which prejudiced both litigants, to claim a substantive result favorable to herself. [8]