Opinion ID: 2995472
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: According to defendants, any

Text: plaintiff who lacks a right-to-sue letter at the time of filing its lawsuit can have its suit dismissed at any point thereafter for lack of jurisdiction. Therefore, defendants contend that the district court should have dismissed Worth’s Title VII claim for lack of jurisdiction. See Movement for Opportunity & Equal. v. Gen. Motors, Corp., 622 F.2d 1235, 1241 (7th Cir. 1980). Moreover, because the district court lacked original jurisdiction over Worth’s Title VII claims, defendants argue that it also lacked supplemental jurisdiction over Worth’s battery claim. See 28 U.S.C. sec. 1367. Finally, defendants contend that this issue has been preserved for appeal because jurisdictional arguments may never be waived. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3). Defendants’ argument fails because the receipt of a right-to-sue letter is not a jurisdictional prerequisite to bringing a Title VII suit. See Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 455 U.S. 385, 398, 102 S. Ct. 1127, 71 L. Ed. 2d 234 (1982). Rather, the lack of a right-to-sue letter may constitute a defense to a Title VII claim. See Perkins v. Silverstein, 939 F.2d 463, 471 (7th Cir. 1991). In Perkins, we held that a complaint may be deficient and subject to dismissal if the plaintiff lacks a right-to-sue letter. See id. However, the plaintiff’s receipt of a right-to-sue letter before dismissal cured any deficiency in the original complaint. See id. In the present case, the EEOC sent Worth a right-to-sue letter on October 21, 1996. Thus, defendants could have sought to dismiss Worth’s complaint at any time before October 21. See id. However, it was defendants’ duty to bring any deficiency in Worth’s complaint to the court’s attention and they failed to do so in a timely manner. Therefore, defendants’ argument fails because it was not raised before Worth received the October 21, 1996 right-to-sue letter. See id. B. Proper Defendants a. Corporate Defendants At the close of testimony, defendants moved for JMOL, alleging that U.S. Title Co., CTS, Title Express, and Ogle II (Affiliates) were not proper defendants under Title VII. The district court found there was sufficient evidence to submit the question to the jury, which returned a verdict against defendants. Defendants then moved to amend the judgment, or in the alternative, for a new trial on the same grounds. Their post-trial motion was again denied. While we review the denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo . . . we are limited to assessing whether no rational jury could have found for the plaintiff. Goodwin v. MTD Prods., Inc., 232 F.3d 600, 605-06 (7th Cir. 2000). Further, [w]e review the denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. Harris v. City of Chicago, 266 F.3d 750, 753 (7th Cir. 2001). In the present case, there are three ways in which one of the Affiliates could be found to be a proper Title VII defendant. First, any of the Affiliates that possibly maintained an employment relationship with Worth may be named as a defendant under Title VII. See Knight v. United Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 950 F.2d 377, 380 (7th Cir. 1991). Affiliates deny they are defendants under this stan dard, although Grundy II concedes that it is a proper defendant for this reason. Next, if any of the Affiliates forfeited its limited liability, it is a proper defendant under Title VII. See Papa v. Katy Ind., Inc., 166 F.3d 937, 941 (7th Cir. 1999). The most common way for an affiliated corporation to forfeit its limited liability is through piercing the corporate veil, whereby corporate formalities are ignored and the actions of one company can accrue to another. See id. Worth must show two things to pierce the corporate veil of each Affiliate: first, there must be such unity of interest and ownership [between the Affiliate and Grundy II] that the separate personalities . . . no longer exist; and second, circumstances must be such that adherence to the fiction of separate corporate existence would sanction a fraud or promote injustice. Van Dorn Co. v. Future Chem. & Oil Corp., 753 F.2d 565, 569-70 (7th Cir. 1985) (quotation omitted). An affiliated corporation also forfeits its limited liability when it takes actions for the express purpose of avoiding liability under the discrimination laws or where the affiliate corporation might have directed the discriminatory act, practice, or policy of which the employee is complaining. See Papa, 166 F.3d. at 941. Finally, any of the Affiliates may be liable under Title VII due to the misdeeds of a predecessor through successor liability. When the successor company knows about its predecessor’s liability, knows the precise extent of that liability, and knows that the predecessor itself would not be able to pay a judgment obtained against it, the presumption should be in favor of successor liability . . . . EEOC v. Vucitech, 842 F.2d 936, 945 (7th Cir. 1988). If any of the Affiliates satisfy any of these scenarios, it is a proper defendant under Title VII. Worth contends that there is a fourth way Affiliates could be proper Title VII defendants: through the integrated enterprise test. The integrated enterprise test determines whether multiple corporate entities could both be considered proper defendants in employment discrimination cases even if one of them did not directly employ the plaintiff./1 See, e.g., Rogers v. Sugar Tree Prods., Inc., 7 F.3d 577, 582 (7th Cir. 1993). Worth’s argument fails, however, because this Circuit no longer applies the integrated enterprise test to Title VII claims. See Papa, 166 F.3d at 941-43. In Papa, we addressed the application of the integrated enterprise test in the context of determining whether affiliated corporations were proper defendants under Title VII even if they did not meet the minimum employee requirements of Title VII (tiny employer exception). See id. at 939. We stated that the integrated enterprise test was too amorphous to be applied consistently. See id. at 940-42. Such inconsistencies made it difficult for a corporation to determine when it could be held liable for the actions of its affiliate. Therefore, we held that the integrated enterprise test should be abrogated in Title VII cases. See id. at 941-43. Worth erroneously contends that because Papa addressed only the tiny employer exception, it is limited to such cases. Therefore, according to Worth, we should still apply the integrated enterprise test in this case because, Worth alleges, defendants meet the minimum employee requirement of Title VII. However, nothing in Papa limits its application to the tiny employer context. Rather, we stated that the principles governing affiliate liability should apply across the full range of American law unless a particular statute provided an alternative test. Id. at 941. Turning to the each of the Affiliates, Ogle II is proper defendant due to successor liability. See Vucitech, 842 F.2d at 943-45. There was ample evidence for the district court to conclude that Ogle II knew about the existence and extent of Grundy II’s liability to Worth and that Grundy II was no longer operating. See id. at 945. Tyer’s conduct is what gives rise to any liability against Grundy II and Tyer knew that, when he terminated Worth, she had already reported his conduct to the police. Therefore, he knew that Grundy II was potentially liable for his actions./2 On December 31, 1994, twelve days after the IHRC sent Tyer a letter with respect to this matter, Grundy II ceased operations. Two days later, on January 2, 1995, every employee of Grundy II became an employee of Ogle II and Ogle II acquired Grundy II’s assets. Finally, and most importantly, defendants’ counsel conceded at trial that Ogle II should be liable for any judgment against Grundy