PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge has not yet ruled whether a Philadelphia woman will be allowed to file a third amended complaint against a contracting company over an alleged nonconsensual sexual incident that occurred at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 2016.
In addition to the motion for the third amended complaint, U.S. District Court Judge J. William Ditter, on the bench in Pennsylvania's Eastern District, also has before him a motion filed by The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company in May asking that he turn down the plaintiff's request.
Whiting-Turner denies it is liable for the alleged incident over which one of the company's managers, William Taylor, was convicted later the same year, and maintains the plaintiff's amended complaint contains little to justify allowing it to be filed, according to the company's motion filed May 29.
U.S. District Court Judge J. William Ditter
"Instead of citing legal authority to defend the plausibility of her pleadings, plaintiff insists on making redundant and trivial amendments to her complaint to avoid dismissal," Whiting-Turner Contracting Company said in its brief filed May 29 in U.S. District Court for Pennsylvania's Eastern District. "For several independent reasons, plaintiff's belated and futile efforts to state a claim against Whiting-Turner should be rejected once and for all."
Whiting-Turner urged Ditter to "readily reject plaintiff's fourth bite at the apple" for lack of new information.
"The only new allegations contained in the proposed third amended complaint pertain to plaintiff's implausible theory that Whiting-Turner purportedly 'undertook' a contractual duty in its prime contract with the U.S. Navy to warn or protect plaintiff from defendant Taylor's alleged criminal behavior and unwanted touching on Feb. 4, 2016," Whiting-Turner said in its motion.
"However, neither plaintiff nor her employer were parties to that contract and the contract does not impose on Whiting-Turner the duties allegedly breached."
Whiting-Turner is headquartered in Baltimore. Taylor, a resident of Havre de Grace, Maryland, is a co-defendant in the case in his individual capacity and as a Whiting-Turner regional senior superintendent. The plaintiff claims in her initial 18-page complaint filed about a year ago that Whiting-Turner is "vicariously liable and accountable" for Taylor's alleged assault.
The plaintiff, who filed her second amended complaint in February, is seeking damages in excess of $150,000
Allegations against Whiting-Turner and Taylor stem from an incident between the plaintiff and Taylor Feb. 4, 2016 while she was onsite as a guard working for a company contracted to provide security.
In April 2016, the U.S. Attorney's office for Eastern Pennsylvania filed three counts of simple assault against Taylor, then 61, for allegedly assaulting "Victim No. 1 at three different times" at the Philadelphia Navy Yard the previous Feb. 4, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release at the time. Taylor was found guilty of two counts of assault the following September, according to the complaint. Cell phone video that the plaintiff managed to tape during the incident was used as evidence in the case against him, according to the complaint.
In February, Ditter issued an order dismissing with prejudice the plaintiff's second amended complaint against Whiting-Turner. In April, two of four counts against Taylor in the plaintiff's second amended complaint also were dismissed with prejudice.
On May 7, the plaintiff filed a motion asking Ditter to allow her to file a third amended complaint.