ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Patricia Cohen has dismissed with prejudice discrimination claims against St. Louis County and government officials that had been filed by a former health inspector.
The case dismissed by Cohen on Oct. 23 was brought by Theoda Mills, who claimed that the defendants knew that he suffered from a shellfish allergy yet assigned him to jobs that forced him into contact with shellfish. He also had claimed that he was subjected to age discrimination. Described as over age 40 in the order, Mills claimed that he was treated differently than "younger, allergy-free co-workers."
Mills sued earlier this year at U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Defendants in the action also included Sharon Gardner, Donald Edwards and Joyce Theard. Mills sued them, and Stenger, in their official capacities and sued Gardner, Edwards and Theard in their individual capacities as well.
Cohen had previously dismissed allegations of violations of the Missouri Human Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against county employees. However, the court denied a motion to dismiss Mills' ADA claim against the county and County Executive Steve Stenger.
In their second motion to dismiss, the county and Stenger argued that Mills could not maintain an ADA claim against an individual and that Mills' request for punitive damages should be denied because they are not recoverable against a government entity under the ADA.
"In light of this district’s decisions dismissing ADA employment discrimination claims against individual defendants, and in the absence of Plaintiff’s citation to any contrary authority, the Court grants Defendant Stenger’s second motion to dismiss," Cohen wrote.
She also held that punitive damages are not recoverable "given the statutory provision precluding an award of punitive damages from a 'political subdivision.'"