Anthony Savage v. WV Dept of Health & Human Re

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 5:10-cv-00126-JPB. Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999123993]. [12-2103]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 12-2103

ANTHONY SAVAGE,
Plaintiff - Appellant,
v.
WEST VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT
THERESA HAUGHT,

OF

HEALTH

AND

HUMAN

RESOURCES;

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, at Wheeling.
John Preston Bailey,
Chief District Judge. (5:10-cv-00126-JPB)

Submitted:

April 30, 2013

Decided:

June 6, 2013

Before WILKINSON, DIAZ, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Paul T. Tucker, GROVE & DELK, PLLC, Wheeling, West Virginia, for
Appellant.
David L. Wyant, Thomas E. Buck, Diane G. W.
Senakievich, BAILEY & WYANT, PLLC, Wheeling, West Virginia, for
Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Anthony Savage, an African-American, filed a complaint
in

state

court

against

his

employer,

the

West

Virginia

Department of Health and Human Resources, and Theresa Haught
(collectively, “Defendants”) alleging (1) racial discrimination
in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42
U.S.C.

§

2000e

et

seq.

(2006);

(2)

racial

discrimination

in

violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, W. Va. Code
§ 5-11-1

et

seq.

(1979),

and

(3)

retaliatory

conduct

in

contravention of substantial public policies of the state of
West Virginia.

Defendants subsequently removed the action to

federal court.

Shortly thereafter, Savage abandoned his federal

claims for race discrimination under Title VII and sought remand
to the state court.

The district court in its discretion denied

Savage’s motion to remand, exercised supplemental jurisdiction
over the state claims, and ultimately granted Defendants’ motion
for summary judgment.

On appeal, Savage argues the district

court abused its discretion in denying his motion to remand to
state court and erred in granting summary judgment to Defendants
on his state law employment discrimination claims. *

*

We affirm.

Savage does not contest the district court’s grant of
summary judgment to Defendants on his disparate impact and
retaliation claims.

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Savage first claims that the district court erred in
exercising supplemental jurisdiction over his state law claims
after he abandoned his federal claims in his amended complaint.
District courts have supplemental jurisdiction over state law
claims that “form part of the same case or controversy” as the
federal claim.
court

28 U.S.C. § 1367(a) (2006).

dismissed

jurisdiction,

all

the

the

claims

district

over

court

Once the district

which

had

it

“wide

had

original

latitude

in

determining whether or not to retain jurisdiction over [the]
state claims.”

Shanaghan v. Cahill, 58 F.3d 106, 110 (4th Cir.

1995); see 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), (c)(3) (2006).

In exercising

its discretion, the district court should consider “convenience
and fairness to the parties, the existence of any underlying
issues of federal policy, comity, and considerations of judicial
economy.”

Shanaghan, 58 F.3d at 110 (citing Carnegie-Mellon

Univ. v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343, 350 n.7 (1988)).

Upon review, we

conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in
retaining

supplemental

jurisdiction

over

Savage’s

state

law

claims.
Savage

next

contends

the

district

court

erred

in

granting summary judgment to Defendants on his state law claim
that he was denied a promotion on account of his race.

We

review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo,
viewing the facts and drawing reasonable inferences in the light
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most favorable to the non-moving party.

PBM Prods., LLC v. Mead

Johnson & Co., 639 F.3d 111, 119 (4th Cir. 2011).

Summary

judgment is proper “if the movant shows that there is no genuine
dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to
judgment as a matter of law.”

Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

“Only

disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit
under

the

governing

summary judgment.”
242, 248 (1986).

law

will

properly

preclude

the

entry

of

Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S.
To withstand a motion for summary judgment,

the non-moving party must produce competent evidence to reveal
the existence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial.
See Thompson v. Potomac Elec. Power Co., 312 F.3d 645, 649 (4th
Cir.

2002)

(“Conclusory

or

speculative

allegations

do

not

suffice, nor does a mere scintilla of evidence in support of
[the

non-moving

party’s]

case.”

(internal

quotation

marks

omitted)).
Having reviewed the record and the parties’ arguments
on appeal, we conclude that the district court did not err in
its determination that, even assuming Savage could make out a
prima facie case of discrimination, Savage could not demonstrate
that his employer’s proffered non-discriminatory reasons for its
promotion decision was pretextual.
that

the

interviewing

panel

To the extent Savage argues

deliberately

4

violated

mandatory

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state law by refusing to consider performance evaluations, we
conclude this argument is without merit.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district
court.
legal
before

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
contentions
this

court

are

adequately

and

argument

presented

would

not

in
aid

the
the

materials
decisional

process.
AFFIRMED

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