Opinion ID: 6982231
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Medical Benefits Claims

Text: The district court divided the medical benefits claims into two clusters: claims that were made in Devlin I (the state law claims and the ERISA claims) and the claims that were not made in Devlin I but could have been made (the federal age discrimination claim under the ADEA). The district court held that all of these claims related to the medical benefits were barred by the doctrine of res judicata. We disagree, and we vacate and remand. Appellants filed their ADEA claims in this lawsuit approximately eleven months after they filed Devlin I—but well before the proceedings in Devlin I had been brought to completion, and before judgment had been entered in Devlin I. Appellants explain their delay in filing the ADEA charges (in Devlin II) as attributable to their waiting until after they had received a right-to-sue letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). The district court fo-cussed, however, not on plaintiffs’ delay in filing the ADEA claims, but on their choice to do so in a second, separate action. The district court analogized this case to Woods v. Dunlop Tire Corp., 972 F.2d 36 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1053, 113 S.Ct. 977, 122 L.Ed.2d 131 (1993), and determined that res judicata applied because the plaintiffs could have sought a stay of Devlin I upon filing charges with the EEOC. Once the EEOC notified Plaintiffs that it rejected their complaint, Plaintiffs could then have joined their ADEA claim to Devlin I. Plaintiffs could also have amended their complaint in Devlin I as soon as they received the notice of termination letter from the EEOC on September 28, 1995. In fact, the Court instructed Plaintiffs to make their EEOC claim in Devlin I, see Devlin I, 1995 WL 380374, at  (S.D.N.Y. June 26, 1995), but Plaintiffs instead chose to file the instant lawsuit. Unfortunately for Plaintiffs, this choice was fatal to their ADEA claim which the Court hereby dismisses as barred by the doctrine of res judica-ta. Devlin, 1997 WL 634179, at . However, the district court’s reliance on Woods is misplaced due to the factual differences between that case and the instant one. The plaintiff in Woods was Lucille Qualls Woods, an employee of Dunlop Tire Corporation from 1976 until 1985. See id. at 37. She was fired eight months prior to the vesting of her pension, and she asserted that she was fired because she was black and female. She filed a grievance with her union which was denied, and she filed charges with the EEOC and New York State Division of Human Rights (“DHR”) on July 31, 1985. While the administrative proceedings were still pending, she filed suit on December 4, 1985, in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, alleging a violation of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), arguing that she was fired in violation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. The case was dismissed on summary judgment in favor of Dunlop and the Union on June 22, 1988. See Woods v. Dunlop Tire Corp., No. CIV-85-1464, 1988 WL 66173 (W.D.N.Y. June 23,1988). On August 3, 1988, more than three years after Woods filed charges against Dunlop with the EEOC and the DHR, the DHR determined that there was probable cause to believe that Dunlop had discriminated against Woods. See Woods, 972 F.2d at 37. On November 21, 1990, the EEOC concluded its administrative review and issued a Notice of Right to Sue. On February 18, 1991, Woods filed a complaint alleging a violation of Title VII. Dunlop moved for summary judgment on res judicata grounds because the race and sex discrimination claims made in the 1991 complaint could have been made in the 1985 complaint. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Dunlop, concluding that res judicata applied. See Woods v. Dunlop Tire Corp., No. CIV-9198E, 1992 WL 10845, at  (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 1992). On appeal by Woods, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s judgment, finding that res judicata applied, and Woods failed to take minimal steps to ensure that her Title VII claims would not be barred if the administrative review were a long time in coming. See Woods, 972 F.2d at 40-41. The court determined that Woods could have filed her first suit and sought a stay in the district court pending the outcome of her EEOC review. Upon completion of the administrative review, she could have then joined her Title VII claim to her initial lawsuit. The court found that Woods could have alternatively sought a Right to Sue Notice on her Title VII claim 180 days after she filed it with the EEOC. Such an accelerated process is specifically permitted if a person is unwilling to wait for the conclusion of the EEOC review. Woods then could have joined her Title VII claim with her initial claim. The court concluded that “[ujnder the circumstances revealed, we find no reason to excuse Woods’ failure to take these minimal steps necessary to preserve each claim independently, and conclude that her Title VII claim is not exempt from the bar of res judicata.” Id. at 41. A key phrase in our resolution of Woods was the phrase “[u]nder the circumstances revealed.” Id. We are able to differentiate the situation before us from the circumstances in Woods with great ease. According to the docket sheet in this case, this case was referred to Judge Keenan when it was filed, and it was accepted as related to Devlin I. See Civil Docket for Case # : 95-CV-10838 at 3, Devlin v. Transportation Communications Int’l Union, 95-CV-10838 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 28,1998). The court therefore was aware that this case existed and that it related to Devlin I. Unlike the circumstances in Woods, plaintiffs here did not wait until years after entry of judgment in their initial case to file this related action. Rather, Devlin I was still pending when the EEOC concluded its review and when Devlin II was filed. The question then becomes whether the appellants should be hoisted with then-own procedural petard for failing to plead the ADEA claim in Devlin I as the district court instructed. See Devlin v. Transportation Communications Int’l Union, 95 Civ. 0742, 1995 WL 380374, at  (S.D.N.Y. June 26,1995) (“If Plaintiffs have a federal age discrimination claim, they should plead it.”). Given the district court’s instruction that the appellants should plead their ADEA claim in Devlin I, we are puzzled as to why the appellants did not do so. We do not think, however, that their actions should lead to the dismissal of their ADEA claim, given the fortuitous circumstance that the same district judge had both Devlin I and Devlin II on his active docket at the same time. A district court can consolidate related cases under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(a) sua sponte. See In re Adams Apple, Inc., 829 F.2d 1484, 1487 (9th Cir.1987). Rule 42(a) provides that consolidation is acceptable “[w]hen actions involving a common question of law or fact are pending before the court.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 42(a). The Rule should be prudently employed as “a valuable and important tool of judicial administration,” Consorti v. Armstrong World Ind., 72 F.3d 1003, 1006 (2d Cir.1995), vacated on other grounds, 518 U.S. 1031, 116 S.Ct. 2576, 135 L.Ed.2d 1091 (1996), invoked to “expedite trial and eliminate unnecessary repetition and confusion,” Miller v. United States Postal Serv., 729 F.2d 1033, 1036 (5th Cir.1984). In assessing whether consolidation is appropriate in given circumstances, a district court should consider both equity and judicial economy. See Miller, 729 F.2d at 1037. However, under the applicable law, efficiency cannot be permitted to prevail at the expense of justice — consolidation should be considered when “savings of expense and gains of efficiency can be accomplished without sacrifice of justice.” Consorti, 72 F.3d at 1007. We recognize that requiring a district judge to have a thorough familiarity with the facts and legal issues in every single case on a district court’s docket is ludicrous given the heavy caseload district courts carry. In this case, however, both Devlin cases were on the court’s active calendar such that we can conclude the district court could well have considered consolidating them. See, e.g., Miller, 729 F.2d at 1036 (“The proper solution to the problems created by the existence of two or more cases involving the same parties and issues, simultaneously pending in the same court would be to consolidate them under Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). We are not ready to review the decision not to consolidate here because it is unclear to us that the district court fully contemplated the option. Since our companion decision today in Devlin, 173 F.3d 94 (2d Cir.1999), reopens Devlin I, we vacate the district court’s application of res judicata, and we remand for consideration of consolidation.