Lu v. University of Utah


FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT October 29, 2019 _________________________________ Elisabeth A. Shumaker Clerk of Court YUNG-KAI LU, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. No. 18-4134 (D.C. No. 2:16-CV-00051-CW) UNIVERSITY OF UTAH; LORI (D. Utah) MCDONALD; RYAN RANDALL; CHALIMAR L. SWAIN; DONN SCHAEFER; MIGUEL CHUAQUI; MIKE COTTLE; ROBERT BALDWIN; MICHAEL GOODRICH; CHARLES PIELE; CHARLES WIGHT, Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT* _________________________________ Before EID, KELLY, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Yung-Kai Lu, a citizen of Taiwan, appeals pro se from a district court order that dismissed his complaint against the University of Utah and some of its employees for not renewing his music scholarship and graduate teaching-assistant position. Exercising * After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm for substantially the same reasons identified by the district court. BACKGROUND This is the second time Lu has sued over the non-renewal of his scholarship and teaching-assistant position. He first sued in 2013, alleging that during the 2010-11 school year, when he was a doctoral music student, the University racially discriminated against him, misused state funds, and provided false criminal records to immigration authorities, resulting in his deportation to Taiwan in October 2011. In an amended complaint, he alleged breach of contract, slander, and infliction of emotional distress, and he claimed the violation of various international treaties. Separately, in August 2015, he filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that claimed national-origin discrimination and retaliation. Lu was unsuccessful on both fronts. On October 7, 2015, the district court dismissed his complaint with prejudice. The district court explained that (1) the Eleventh Amendment and the Utah Governmental Immunity Act (UGIA) barred his tort claims; (2) he failed to plausibly allege a breach of contract in the non-renewal of his scholarship and teaching-assistant position; and (3) he failed to plausibly allege any international claim. Soon thereafter, on October 30, 2015, the EEOC dismissed his charge of discrimination as untimely and issued a right-to-sue letter. In November 2015, Lu appealed the district court’s dismissal of his case. In early 2016, while his appeal was pending, Lu sued the University and its employees again, this time claiming that the non-renewal of his scholarship and teaching-assistant position 2 violated Title VII. In August 2016, this court affirmed the dismissal of Lu’s first lawsuit. See Lu v. Univ. of Utah, 660 F. App’x 573 (10th Cir. 2016). Following this court’s affirmance, Lu amended his complaint, advancing ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals