Opinion
Case No. 2:04-CV-252 TS.
July 6, 2004
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS AND PARTIALLY DISMISSING CLAIMS
This matter is before the court on Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the first and second causes of action against Defendants Timothy Campbell and Larry Bowers, to dismiss all claims against the Department of Airports and to dismiss the third cause of action in its entirety.
Defendants move to dismiss the first and second causes of action against the individual defendants because Title VII does not provide for personal capacity suits against individual supervisors. Defendant contends, relying on case law from other jurisdictions, that individual supervisors may be subject to suit under Title VII.
Case law in this jurisdiction is clear that supervisors in their individual capacity are not subject to suit under Title VII. Haynes v. Williams, 88 F.3d 899 (10th Cir. 1996). Regardless of rulings in other jurisdictions, Tenth Circuit case law is binding on this court. Accordingly, the court will grant the Motion to Dismiss the first and second causes of action against the individual defendants.
Defendants also seek to dismiss the claims against Defendants Campbell and Bowers in their official capacity. Where Plaintiff brings an action directly against the employer, official capacity suits against the supervisors as agents of that employer are inappropriate. Id. at 899 (Title VII plaintiff to proceed against employer by "either naming the supervisory employees as agents of the employer or by naming the employer directly"). In this case, because the employer, the City, has been named directly, the court will dismiss the claims against Defendants Campbell and Bowers in their official capacity as agents of the City.
Defendants move to dismiss all causes of action against the Department of Airports because it is merely a department within Salt Lake City Corporation and is not a separate and distinct entity subject to suit. Plaintiff contends that prior case law naming the Department of Airports as a party defendant establishes that it is subject to suit. While conceding that there is no statutory authority supporting a direct action against a department of the city, Plaintiff also argues that neither is there a statute prohibiting such suit.
Utah's governmental immunity act sets forth limited waivers of sovereign immunity for the state and its political subdivisions. Utah Code Ann. §§ 63-30-3 (immunity from suit), § 10-1-201 (municipality is subdivision of state). However, there is no authority to sue a department of a city. Plaintiff does not dispute that the Department of Airports is merely a department of the City and not a separate entity. Therefore, there is no basis for finding that it has the capacity to be sued. The fact that it may appear in captions of reported cases is not authority to the contrary where there was no finding on the issue of capacity to be sued in those cases. Accordingly, the court will dismiss the claims against the Department of Airports.
Defendants also move to dismiss the third cause of action in its entirety. Plaintiff concedes that his third cause of action should be dismissed. Accordingly the court will dismiss the third cause of action. It is therefore
ORDERED that Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. It is further
ORDERED that the third cause of action is DISMISSED. It is further
ORDERED that the first and second causes of action against Defendants Timothy Campbell and Larry Bowers in their individual and official capacities are DISMISSED. It is further
ORDERED that all causes of action against the Department of Airports are DISMISSED.