MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
The plaintiff, Kirk Quinn, suing under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., alleges that, upon the recommendation of the two individual defendants, Robert J. Jachino and George Campbell, President and National Sales Manager, respectively, of Bow-mar Publishing Company, the defendant Bowmar Publishing Company willfully and wrongfully discharged the plaintiff because of his age, in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1) and (3). He requests reinstatement to his former position of Sales Representative, back pay and lost benefits with 6% interest per annum, an additional, equal amount as liquidated damages, one million dollars punitive damages, restoration of his pension and retirement rights, attorney’s fees and costs, and such other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate to effectuate the purposes of the ADEA. In addition, the plaintiff demands a jury trial on all issues triable as of right by a jury.
The defendants move to dismiss on five grounds: 1) 12(b)(3), Fed.R.Civ.Proe., for improper venue; 2) 12(b)(1) or (6) Fed.R. Civ.Proc., for failure to exhaust state remedies as required by the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 633; 3) 12(b)(6) Fed.R.Civ.Proe., dismissal of the claim for punitive damages as not recoverable under the ADEA; 4) 12(b)(2) Fed.R.Civ.Proe., dismissal of the claims against the two individual defendants for
MOTION TO DISMISS
a. IMPROPER VENUE
The Court has subject matter jurisdiction under 29 U.S.C. § 623(a)(1) and (2). Venue is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b), which provides that an action not founded solely upon diversity may be brought only in the judicial district in which all defendants reside, or in which the claim arose. As the two individual defendants are residents of California, venue is properly in the District for Maryland only if the claim arose here.
A claim generally arises where the injury occurs.
See generally,
15 Wright, Miller & Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 3806 (1976); 1 Moore’s Federal Practice, ¶ 0.142 [5.-2] at 1426 (2d Ed. 1977). However, because the injury in some types of suits typically occurs in more than one place, the court in an anti-trust case,
Philadelphia Housing Authority v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.,
suggested a “weight of the contacts” test: venue is proper if significant sales causing substantial injury were made in the district in which venue is asserted, or some other overt act constituting a significant and substantial element of the offense occurred there. If, however, an insignificant element (such as one sale or a meaningless meeting) occurred in the district, venue does not lie.
It is not clear how far the weight of the contacts tests may be extended from anti-trust cases. A number of courts have used the test in trademark infringement cases; e.
g., Honda Associates, Inc. v. Nozawa Trading Co.,
Finally, even under the weight of the contacts test, the fact that the decision to discharge the plaintiff was made in California does not defeat venue in Maryland. Under the test as initially delineated in Philadelphia Housing, a significant and substantial, if not essential, element of the cause of action — -the loss of the plaintiff’s employment — occurred in Maryland.
b. FAILURE TO EXHAUST STATE CLAIMS
29 U.S.C. § 633(b) provides that, where the alleged unlawful act took place in a state which prohibits age discrimination in employment, “ . . .no suit may be brought under § 626 of this title before the expiration of sixty days after proceedings have been commenced under the State law, unless such proceedings have been earlier terminated: . . . The plaintiff has submitted with his answer to the defendants’ motion to dismiss two letters which demonstrate that he has met this
c. PUNITIVE DAMAGES
29 U.S.C. § 626 provides that the ADEA shall be enforced in accordance with 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) and 217 (the enforcement provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act [FLSA]). Section 216 provides for relief in the form of unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime compensation, liquidated damages, attorney’s fees and costs. Section 626 of the ADEA restricts liquidated damages to cases of willful violation, and provides that the court may grant such legal and equitable relief as will effectuate the purposes of the ADEA. The Act does not mention compensatory or punitive damages.
The great weight of authority holds that punitive damages are not recoverable under the ADEA. While the Act specifically provides for back pay and an equal, additional amount for liquidated damages for willful violation, it does not specify punitive damages, raising the reasonable inference that Congress chose not to provide for punitive damages.
Hannon
v.
Continental National Bank,
d. FAILURE TO NAME INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS IN PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE SECRETARY OF LABOR
29 U.S.C. § 626(d) provides that:
No civil action may be commenced by any individual under this section until the individual has given the Secretary not less than sixty-days’ notice of an intent to file such action. . . Upon receiving a notice of intent to sue, the Secretary shall promptly notify all persons named therein as prospective defendants in the action and shall promptly seek to eliminate any alleged unlawful practice by informal methods of conciliation, conference, and persuasion.
There has been little litigation of the issue of notice required by this section. However, procedural interpretations of Title VII may be utilized to interpret the ADEA in view of the almost identical language and similar purpose of the two statutes.
Gabriele
v.
Chrysler Corp.,
The burden of proving jurisdictional facts is upon the plaintiff.
Holfield v. Power Chemical Co., Inc.,
The plaintiff requests that he be given additional time to complete discovery to prove the necessary substantial connection between the notified and unnotified defendants before this Court decides to dismiss against the individual defendants. While
Hanshaw v. Delaware Technical and Community College, supra,
and
Tippett v. Liggett and Myers Tobacco Co.,
e. LACK OF PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS
Jurisdiction over individual officers or employees of a corporation may not be predicated upon jurisdiction over the corporation, absent activities by the individuals sufficient to subject them to a long arm statute.
Wilshire Oil Co. of Texas v. Riffe,
(b) A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person who directly or by an agent:
(1) transacts any business or performs any character of work or service in the state;
(2) contracts to supply goods, food, services or manufactured products in the state;
(3) causes tortious injury in the state by an act or omission in the state;
(4) causes tortious injury in the state or outside of the state by an act or omission outside the state, if he regularly does or solicits business, engages in any other persistent course of conduct in the state, or derives substantial revenue from goods, food, services or manufactured products used or consumed in the state;
(6) contracts to insure or act as surety for, or on, any person, property, risk, contract, obligation, or agreement located, executed, or to be performed within the state at the time the contract is made, unless the parties otherwise provide in writing.
Jachino and Campbell state in their affidavits that neither lives in Maryland, owns, possesses or uses real property in Maryland; and that the only contacts each has had in the state are as follows: Jachino spent one week in Maryland nine years ago on business that did not concern the plaintiff; Campbell attended some meetings in Maryland prior to February 1976, and met with the plaintiff in Maryland on February 21, 1976, but has not been in Maryland since that date. Consequently, only subsection (b)(4) of the Long Arm Statute is applicable to these defendants.
The plaintiff has the burden of proving, or at least making a
prima facie
showing of, the jurisdictional facts to show that the individual defendants regularly do or solicit business in Maryland, engage in another persistent course of conduct in the state, or derive substantial revenue from goods, services or manufactured products used or consumed in the state.
Weller v. Cromwell Oil Co.,
It is clear that the one week Jachino spent in Maryland nine years ago is not “regular” or “persistent” conduct of any kind. Plaintiff has thus failed to allege or prove the facts necessary to establish jurisdiction over him. The Court need not reach the question of whether Campbell’s contacts with Maryland are sufficient in number under the statute, since Campbell was acting on corporate business during those meetings. Contacts as a corporate representative on corporate business do not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the individual.
Wilshire Oil Co. of Texas v. Riffe,
The courts have recognized an exception to this general rule: where the individual is conducting personal activities behind the shield of a non-viable corporation, the court may pierce the corporate veil and thereby predicate personal jurisdiction over the individual on personal jurisdiction over the corporation. 4 Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 1069 (1976 Supp. at 31). The plaintiff asserts that since the decision-making of the corporation is equivalent to the decision-making of the individual defendants, it would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice to attribute corporate acts to the individuals. However, the plaintiff alleges no facts to show that the corporation is merely a facade for the defendants’ individual activities, and the cases he cites are clearly distinguished on their facts. In
Harris v. Arlen Properties, Inc.,
The plaintiff requests that the decision on this motion be postponed until after completion of discovery, citing
Johnson v. Helicoptor & Airplane Services Corp.,
MOTION TO TRANSFER
The defendants move for a transfer to the Central District of California, under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), which provides: “For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought.” The court has great discretion in deciding whether to grant a transfer,
Solomon v. Continental American Life Ins. Co.,
MOTION TO STRIKE THE DEMAND FOR A JURY TRIAL
The defendants move to strike the plaintiff’s demand for a jury trial on the ground that the case presents no issue triable by right by a jury. Since the ADEA does not specifically provide for trial by jury, the plaintiff may demand a jury trial only if that right is protected by the Seventh Amendment. In actions brought pursuant to a statute, the Seventh Amendment recognizes a right to a jury trial if the statute creates legal rights and remedies enforceable in an action for damages.
Curtis v. Loether,
The plaintiff demands reinstatement, back pay with interest, punitive damages, liquidated damages, restoration of his pension and retirement rights, and attorney’s fees and costs. Since breach of the ADEA does not give rise to punitive damages, there is no issue of a jury trial on punitive damages. Nor is there a right to a jury trial on the award of attorney’s fees ■and costs, as the plaintiff concedes in his memorandum in opposition to the defendants’ motion to strike. Similarly, reinstatement is unquestionably equitable relief, and does not give rise to a right to trial by jury.
Cleverly v. Western Electric Co.,
As to back pay, the reasoning of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in
Morelock v. N. C. R. Corp.,
The courts are also split over whether liquidated damages are legal or equitable in nature. The majority of the cases holds that liquidated damages under the ADEA are equitable. These cases reason that, although § 7(b) of the ADEA, as printed in 29 U.S.C. § 626(b), provides that the Act is to be enforced in accordance with §§ 16(b) and 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) and § 217 (providing for back pay and liquidated damages), the original language of § 7(b) of the ADEA, in 81 Stat. 604, refers to FLSA §§ 16(b) and 17 “as amended.” The FLSA was amended in 1947 by the Portal-to-Portal Act, 29 U.S.C. § 260, which provides:
if the employer shows to the satisfaction of the court that the act or omission giving rise to such action was in good faith and that he had reasonable grounds for believing that his act or omission was not a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, the court may, in its sound discretion, award no liquidated damages or award any amount thereof not to exceed the amount specified in section 216 of this title. (Emphasis added.)
Other courts, however, have argued more persuasively that liquidated damages under the ADEA is a legal remedy. Section 7(b) of the ADEA, 29 U.S.C. § 626(b), provides for liquidated damages for the willful breach of the Act. This provision would be superfluous if the Act is construed to include the Portal-to-Portal language giving the court discretion not to grant damages where the employer can show that he acted in good faith.
Cleverly v. Western Electric Co.,
As to the demand for restoration of retirement benefits, the plaintiff cites three cases in which the court recognized a right to trial by jury. However, in all three of these cases, the plaintiff demanded monetary damages for lost benefits, including pension benefits.
Chilton v. National Cash Register Co.,
For the aforementioned reasons, it is this 25th day of January, 1978, by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, ORDERED:
1. That the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s suit against the defendants Robert J. Jachino and George Campbell for lack of personal jurisdiction be, and the same is, hereby GRANTED;
2. That the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim for punitive damages under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act be, and the same is, hereby GRANTED;
3. That the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s claims against the defendant Bowmar Publishing Company otherwise be, and the same is, hereby DENIED;
4. That the defendants’ motion to transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) be, and the same is, hereby DENIED;
5. That the defendants’ motion to strike the plaintiff’s demand for jury trial on the issues of reinstatement, punitive damages, restoration of the plaintiff’s pension rights, and attorney’s fees and cost be, and the same is hereby GRANTED;
6. That the defendants’ motion to strike the plaintiff’s demand for jury trial on the issues of back pay with interest and liquidated damages be, and the same is, hereby DENIED; and
7. That a copy of this Memorandum and Order be mailed to L. Robert Evans, Es-
