Summary judgment is the employer’s go-to defense to a discrimination lawsuit. For a few decades now, many Federal judges have used summary judgment as a tool for clearing his/her docket. But, in Dabassi v. Motiva Enterprises, No. 23-20166 (5th Cir. 7/16/2024), the court of appeals reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment. In
Many veterans have returned from the two wars with some degree of PTSD. I myself have some low level PTSD in limited situations. But, that does not mean we cannot perform our jobs. In Alviar v. Macy’s Inc., No. 17-1130 (5th Cir. 8/15/2019), the Fifth Circuit reversed an award of summary judgment. Plaintiff Alviar
“Direct” evidence of discrimination generally means a statement that clearly indicates discriminatory intent. In one of my early cases, a San Antonio manager said “we need to get rid of all the lazy ass niggers here.” That statement clearly evinces discriminatory intent.The bias is clear with no need for additional explanation. In Okpere v. National
The Seventh Circuit in Chicago has issued a remarkable decision,. In Ortiz v. Werner Enterprises, Inc., No. 15-2574, the three judge panel overturned a series of cases regarding a so-called “convincing mosaic” test. The decision starts as a normal three judge panel decision discussing Mr. Ortiz and his summary judgment. The lower court granted
I tell my clients this can happen, but they usually just do not believe me. Good cases do sometimes lose at trial. Look at what happened in Wei v. Southwest Research Institute No. 12-CV-00872 (W.D. Tex. 2015). Qiang Wei is from China. He speaks Chinese. It seems obvious that a Chinese person might speak Chinese,
In Willis v. CLECO Corp., No. 13-30217, (5th Cir. 4/8/14), the Fifth Circuit panel reverses summary judgment regarding a disciplinary write-up, but affirms summary judgment regarding the termination of an African-American worker. Gregory Willis’ lawyer did not do him any favors in failing to point to specific pages from Mr. Willis’ deposition. Those pages
Use of the term "boy" to refer to adult African American men is usually thought to constitute some degree of racism. Yet, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has struggled with a case in which that term was used. The case is known as Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc. It has been to the 11th
What does it take to show discrimination, if this is not enough? The best evidence to show discrimination is almost always what we call direct evidence. The "n" word, for example, is always good evidence to show racial prejudice. Using the term "old man" is very good evidence to show age bias. So, this case