KANSAS CITY — A former Missouri Department of Mental Health psychiatric nurse's third lawsuit over his firing almost a decade ago was dismissed by a federal judge last week.
A motion to dismiss filed by the department was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Nanette K. Laughrey, on the bench in Missouri's Western District. In her six-page order issued Dec. 19, Judge Laughrey said complaints by the plaintiff, Myron Hubbard, had already been adjudicated and were therefore barred.
"Mr. Hubbard has twice brought complaints against the Missouri Department of Mental Health," Judge Laughrey said in her order. "Both prior complaints have been dismissed with prejudice, which amounts to judgment on the merits."
U.S. District Court Judge Nanette K. Laughrey
| mow.uscourts.gov
At least one of Hubbard's claims in his most recent lawsuit was "based on facts that occurred either during or after the last trial," referred to as "Hubbard II", the order said.
"Specifically, Mr. Hubbard points to the department's statement in its motion to dismiss—that Hubbard 'has not alleged, nor can he allege, that any federal funds received by the defendants were designed to provide employment'—as evidence that the Department denied receiving federal funds," the order said.
Hubbard was a Missouri Department of Mental Health psychiatric nurse "until he was denied leave and constructively discharged in 2008," the background portion of Judge Laughrey's order said.
Hubbard's initial lawsuit against the department, claiming Title VII discrimination and Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violations, was dismissed with prejudice. Hubbard, now temporarily employed by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health and presenting himself in the matter, again failed against the department, this time alleging fraud upon the court and Title VI violations.
In its most recent motion to dismiss, the department claimed Hubbard had failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted because his claims had already been adjudicated and he had pled no new facts under Title VI.1
Hubbard, in his latest lawsuit, failed to show the department "took material adverse employment action against him" and provided no basis for allegations that and attorney general or South Carolina Department of Mental Health took retaliatory action against him, according to the order.
"In other words, he has failed to show that the defendant in this case, as opposed to someone else, took material adverse employment action against him," Judge Laughrey said in her order. "For this reason, Mr. Hubbard has failed to state a claim for retaliation."