Notariano v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, 2:16-cv-17832

Background

Plaintiff Kim Notariano, a white female over 40 and TPSB employee, alleges repeated denial of promotions (2004, 2010, 2014, 2016) based on race, sex, age, and in retaliation for complaints; she also alleges conspiracy to circumvent an ongoing TPSB desegregation order.
Defendants are Tangipahoa Parish School Board (TPSB) and three individual school officials (Kolwe, Bellavia, Daniels).
Plaintiff brings federal claims (Title VII, § 1981, § 1983) and Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law and intentional infliction of emotional distress; she also asserts procedural due process claims.
Defendants moved to dismiss (alternatively for summary judgment) arguing prescription (statute of limitations), failure to state federal/state claims, lack of a protectable property interest for due process claims, qualified immunity for individual defendants, and that individual-capacity state-law claims are barred.
The Court treated the motion under Rule 12(b)(6) (summary judgment premature), dismissed all claims arising before December 30, 2015 as prescribed, allowed the 2016 denial-of-promotion discrimination claims to proceed, dismissed due process claims for failure to allege a protected interest, dismissed certain individual-capacity state and official-capacity claims, and granted limited leave to amend on other individual-capacity claims.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness (prescription) of older promotion claims	Denials form part of a continuing violation, so older acts are actionable	Discrete denials triggered accrual; earlier denials are time-barred	Denials in 2004, 2010, 2014 are prescribed; only 2016 claim survives
Sufficiency of discrimination pleading (2016 denial)	Alleged non-promotion, qualifications, protected status, and that job went to outside class	Argue Moore desegregation orders preclude these claims or insufficient facts	2016 allegations suffice at pleading stage to state race/sex discrimination claims
Procedural due process (property/liberty interest)	TPSB grievance denial and reputational injury deprived her of due process; cites state constitutional public-employment protections	No protectable property or liberty interest: school board employees exempt from cited state civil-service protection; reputation alone insufficient	Due process claims dismissed without prejudice for failure to plead a protected property/liberty interest
Individual-capacity liability / qualified immunity and state-law liability	Individual defendants participated in discriminatory acts and conspiracy	Insufficient allegations of personal involvement; qualified immunity; Louisiana law bars individual liability under state anti-discrimination statute; official-capacity claims duplicate TPSB	Individual-capacity federal claims dismissed without prejudice for failure to plead personal involvement/overcome qualified immunity; state-law individual claims and official-capacity claims dismissed with prejudice

Key Cases Cited

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (pleading standard: plausibility required)
Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (pleading standard and rejection of conclusory allegations)
Nat’l R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101 (distinction between discrete acts and continuing violations)
Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (qualified immunity two-step analysis)
Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (qualified immunity — court may choose prongs)
Lormand v. U.S. Unwired, Inc., 565 F.3d 228 (Fifth Circuit pleading standards / inferences)
Autry v. Fort Bend Indep. Sch. Dist., 704 F.3d 344 (elements of failure-to-promote prima facie case)
Bd. of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564 (property interests defined by state law)
Bledsoe v. City of Horn Lake, Miss., 449 F.3d 650 (reputation-based liberty interest and § 1983 limits)
Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (official-capacity suits as actions against the entity)