In a per curiam decision, the Fifth Circuit reversed summary judgment for the employer. In Stennett v. Tupelo Public School District, No. 13-60783 (5th Cir. 7/30/2015), Ms. Stennett argued she was more qualified than the persons chosen for various district jobs. Ms. Stennett had formerly worked for the Tupelo Public School District for some
Judges matter. The life experiences they bring to the bench matter. So, when I see a concurrence like the one written by Judge Jones of the Fifth Circuit, I become concerned. In Pineda v. JTCH Apartments, LLC, No. 15-10932 (5th Cir. 12/19/2016), the employee recovered some $5,000 in damages. Santiago Pineda was a maintenance
It was big news just a few months ago that Wells Fargo bank pressured its employees to engage in fraudulent sales tactics. Some employees were even issuing credit cards and setting up new bank accounts for its customers – without the customers’ permission. It was fraud. But, was it illegal? That distinction matters in a
It seems almost silly to argue, as the University of the Incarnate Word does, that UIW’s police force is a governmental body. Yet, that is the very argument the school made to the Texas Supreme Court yesterday. I previously wrote about this appeal here and here. UIW seeks the status of “qualified immunity.” With
Donald Trump and Trump University have been the defendants in a class action lawsuit for some six years, now. The trial was postponed from last Spring to Nov. 28, 2016. Bu, in the meantime, Mr. Trump campaigned and he made statements about the lawsuit. His lawyers tried to exclude those statements from the trial. Judge
The Waffle House, Inc. v. Williams, 313 S.W.3d 796 (Tex. 2010), decision was issued a few years ago. In that decision, the Texas Supreme Court decided that a lawsuit based on a tort claim of sexual assault was actually subsumed by the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act. I wrote about that decision here
A jury in state court awarded $240,000 to a detective with the Austin, Texas Police Department. Amy Lynch sued the department for discrimination. Ms. Lynch was a long-time law enforcement officer who was diagnosed with narcolepsy in 2009. Soon after, she was transferred from her high profile assignment in the Human Trafficking and Vice unit
More and more employers are relying on staffing agencies to fill certain jobs. But, many employers retain so much control that they remain the employers in all but name. So, if the client employer is the employer in fact, what would be the status of the staffing agency? The Fifth Circuit addresses that issue in
The Fifth Circuit issued an interesting decision reversing summary judgment. In Heinsohn v. Carabin and Shaw, No. 15-50300, 2016 WL 4011160 (5th Cir. 7/26/2017), the higher court found the employer did not have policies in place to support its claim that it fired a Legal Assistant for missing an appeal deadline and for allegedly
In many lawsuits, the two opposing parties eventually turn to mediation or talks about settlement. Not every case settles at mediation, but many do. Typically at mediation, if the parties reach a verbal agreement, they then reduce that verbal agreement to a very brief written agreement. The mediator will usually have on hand a generic,