Ronnie Garcia v. Cruzan Viril, Ltd., Beam Suntory, Inc., Ayanda Daniels, Cruzan Rum Distillery, United Industrial Workers of the Seafarers International Union, AFL-CIO, and Eugene Irish

Summary

The District Court of the Virgin Islands adopts a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation and grants the Cruzan defendants’ motion to dismiss Ronnie Garcia’s amended employment-discrimination complaint without prejudice. The court holds that Garcia’s Title VII and ADA claims are untimely, declines supplemental jurisdiction over his Virgin Islands law claims, vacates the prior screening recommendation, and permits Garcia 45 days to file a second amended complaint.

Holdings

1. Title VII and ADA claims must be filed within ninety days after receipt of the EEOC Notice of Right to Sue. Where the actual mailing and receipt dates are unknown, the court may presume mailing on the date shown on the notice and receipt three days later. Garcia's federal claims, filed more than ninety days after the presumed October 21, 2021 receipt date, were time-barred.
2. The court may consider an EEOC Notice of Right to Sue referenced in the complaint even though it was not attached, because the notice is integral to the federal claims and is a public record.
3. The ninety-day filing period is subject to equitable tolling, waiver, and estoppel, but the court could not apply those doctrines because Garcia did not respond to the motion to dismiss or present facts supporting their application.
4. After dismissing all claims within its original federal-question jurisdiction, the court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Garcia's Virgin Islands Wrongful Discharge Act and Virgin Islands Civil Rights Act claims and dismissed those claims without prejudice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Garcia's Title VII and ADA claims were barred by the ninety-day limitations period measured from receipt of the EEOC Notice of Right to Sue.
2. Whether the court could consider the EEOC Notice of Right to Sue in resolving the Rule 12(b)(6) motion.
3. Whether equitable tolling, waiver, or estoppel could excuse the untimely federal claims on the record presented.
4. Whether the court should exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the Virgin Islands Wrongful Discharge Act and Virgin Islands Civil Rights Act claims after dismissing the federal claims.
5. Whether the court should consider inadequately presented personal-jurisdiction and service-of-process arguments raised only in footnotes.

Disposition

dismissed