Gongwer News Service
A federal district court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against the Department of Civil Rights that alleged it committed discrimination and equal protection and due process violations for refusing to investigate or litigate claims against the plaintiff’s former employer.
The lawsuit, Hollingsworth v. MDCR (USWDM Docket No. 24-01301), was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou of the Western District of Michigan. Jarbou dismissed the complaint following a federal magistrate judge filed a report recommending dismissal.
The report and recommendation determined that the lawsuit was barred by 11th Amendment because the department was immune from the relief requested.
The plaintiff alleged he experienced discrimination from multiple employers and had filed supporting audio and video evidence with requests for an investigation. The Lansing, Grand Rapids and Detroit offices of the department were alleged to have started investigations but later shut them down.
He also claimed that MDCR sent him a mediation letter after the cases were supposedly closed, which cited procedural errors and a lack of communication. A Civil Rights employee assured him the errors would be clarified, but no substantive explanation or corrective action ever commenced, the lawsuit said.
Hollingsworth alleged that the department conducted improper investigations and continued a pattern of discrimination against his complaints. That also constituted equal protection and due process violations, lawsuit alleged and highlighted systemic failures with the department’s processes.
That said, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens of the Western District of Michigan said in December 2024 that the plaintiff’s claims were barred by immunity and that he failed to state a claim whereby the relief requested could be granted.
Jarbou adopted the report and recommendation on Tuesday.
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