Opinion
Case No. 8:10-cv-2288-T-30TGW.
December 15, 2010
ORDER
THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 16). Plaintiff, who is proceeding in this case pro se, failed to file a response to Defendants' motion. Upon consideration of the motion to dismiss, the Court concludes that it should be granted with leave to amend solely as to Defendant St. Petersburg College.
Plaintiff purports to bring claims of age and race discrimination, and retaliation against her employer St. Petersburg College ("SPC") and numerous individual employees of SPC. Defendants argue that the Court should dismiss Plaintiff's complaint as to the individual defendants because liability attaches only to employers under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"). Defendants also move for dismissal based on the complaint's failure to comply with Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides in relevant part that "[a] pleading which sets forth a claim for relief shall contain a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief."
Federal law is clear that liability under Title VII and the ADEA attaches only to "employers," not individual defendants. See Dearth v. Collins, 441 F.3d 931, 933 (11th Cir. 2006); Smith v. Lomax, 45 F.3d 402, 403 n. 4 (11th Cir. 1995). Accordingly, the complaint against individual defendants Deborah Robinson, Carl Kuttler, Pam Smith, and Suzanne Gardner must be dismissed with prejudice.
The Court also concludes that Plaintiff's complaint must be dismissed, without prejudice to amend, as to Defendant SPC, Plaintiff's former employer, for its failure to comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). The complaint is mostly comprised of narrative, or stream of consciousness thoughts, making it nearly impossible for SPC to formulate an answer. Plaintiff must state her claims in short and plain numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances, and separate her claims under Title VII and the ADEA in two separate counts.
It is therefore ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that:
1. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 16) is hereby GRANTED as set forth herein.
2. The claims against Defendants Deborah Robinson, Carl Kuttler, Pam Smith, and Suzanne Gardner are hereby DISMISSED with prejudice.
3. The claims against Defendant St. Petersburg College is hereby DISMISSED without prejudice to Plaintiff to amend her claims against St. Petersburg College to conform with the pleading requirements set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure within twenty (20) days from the date of this Order.DONE and ORDERED in Tampa, Florida on December 15, 2010.