Pro Se Case is Quickly Dismissed

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

It is difficult to find a lawyer who specializes in employment law and who represents employees. Most employment lawyers represent the employer and are not willing to represent employees. The typical plaintiff starts out talking to Personal Injury lawyers, because PI lawyers advertise. So, many times, the employment plaintiff must file his/her own case pro se. Pro se means the person represents himself. How do pro se clients fare in court? I have no scientific evidence, but in my experience, they do not fare well.

We see one such case in Mzyk v. Northeast Independent School District, No. 14-00952 (W.D. Tex. 9/1/2015). Ms. Mzyk did not file an actual Complaint. Usually the Complaint is a summary of the allegations against the employer. It is always couched in legal language. But, Ms. Mzyk simply filed a copy of her EEOC charge and the right-to-sue Notice. The court generously accepted the copies as a complaint. The court is required to accord deference to the un-schooled layperson who files her own lawsuit. The suit did not go well for Ms. Mzyk. The employer quickly filed a motion for summary judgment. Responding to a motion for summary judgment requires considerable skill and training. It would be quite difficult for any layperson to respond. Ms. Mzyk filed two extensions seeking more time in which to respond. The judge granted each request. But, still, she did not file a response to the motion.

The judge noted rightly that just because no response was filed, a court may not issue a default judgment. So, the judge went through the process of discussing the evidence. The discussion was brief. The plaintiff had presented no contrary evidence. The judge did discuss Plaintiff Mzyk’s rebuttal information from her deposition. But, the judge was necessarily only seeing the rebuttal testimony provide by the defendant. Any information provided by the defendant, we can expect, would be favorable to the defendant. So, of course, the judge found Ms. Mzyk did not make out her case. Her lawsuit was dismissed. It is fortunate for her that the defendant did not seek sanctions. It did make a counter-claim in its Answer that her lawsuit was frivolous. So, clearly it did occur to the employer that it could seek sanctions.

But, it is unlikely a judge would award sanctions against a pro se plaintiff, anyway. Without the benefit of counsel, the true claims of the plaintiff would almost certainly not be revealed. The defendant did not even seek an award of expenses of defending the lawsuit, normally a routine matter once summary judgment has been granted. The plaintiff was fortunate indeed.

Curated by Texas Bar Today. Follow us on Twitter @texasbartoday.

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