Legal Updates
John Gause monitors what’s happening in employment discrimination, civil rights, and tort law. He shares some of what he finds on this page.
Friday, May 13, 2016
- EEOC: New document, “Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act,” provides detailed guidance to employers and employees regarding when and how leave must be granted for reasons related to an employee’s disability under the ADA
- First Circuit: In granting HUD Secretary’s petition to enforce order under Fair Housing Act imposing compensatory damages and civil penalty against condominium association for denying tenant’s reasonable accommodation request to keep emotional support dog as exception to “no pets rule,” the court articulated a new standard of review in cases under Administrative Procedures Act in which agency reaches a different conclusion than hearing officer
- US District Court ME: The court held that signed Maine Human Rights Commission Intake Questionnaire with attached typed statement satisfied Title VII administrative charge-filing requirement (and verification could be added later) despite MHRC’s warnings on its website and in its letter to complainant that a complaint would not be considered filed until a sworn complaint was received
- US DOJ: Justice Department Files Complaint Against the State of North Carolina to Stop Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals
- US District Court ME: The court held, in part, that Local Rule 54.2, which allows an application for attorney’s fees to be filed within 30 days of the expiration of the time for filing appeal, applied regardless of whether judgment was entered based on an unopposed motion to dismiss in which plaintiff had waived his right to appeal
- US DOJ Civil Rights Division: Supplemental advance notice of rulemaking issued on revised regulations to establish specific technical requirements to make accessible the services, programs, or activities State and local governments offer to the public via the Web
- Maine Supreme Court: Advisory Committee on the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure formed
- Bangor Daily: Judge dismisses Rockland man’s lawsuit against landlord over gun possession
- Kennebec Journal: Former Benton code officer sues town on age discrimination, whistleblower charges
Monday, May 9, 2016
- EEOC: $140,000 settlement reached in Title VII claim that higher education technology company complied with college’s request to bar employee from access to her workplace on the college campus the day after she informed her co-workers she planned to transition from male to female
- Kennebec Journal: Former Madison police officers accuse town of age discrimination
- Press Herald: Judge lets Maine man’s Whole Foods discrimination lawsuit proceed
- MDOL: No-cost courses offered in May and June to educate employers and the public about regulations governing the workplace
Thursday, May 5, 2016
- US District Court ME: In ERISA appeal from denial of coverage under group health plan for residential treatment for plaintiff’s mental illness, the court granted summary judgment for plaintiff (reversing denial) and awarded plaintiff attorney’s fees after striking as invalid under Maine law provision in plan purporting to give administrator “final and conclusive” discretion to determine eligibility for benefits, which led to de novo review of the denial
- US District Court ME: In dismissing § 1983 and Maine Tort Claims Act complaint brought by former Maine House Speaker against Governor for making statements and threats that allegedly brought about the termination of plaintiff’s private employment, the court held that Governor was entitled to qualified immunity and MTCA discretionary acts immunity
- US District Court ME: Following jury verdict for defendant in disability employment discrimination claim, Magistrate Judge denied plaintiff’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial, finding that even if defendant failed to engage in an interactive process the record would support the jury’s determination that further discussion would not have identified a reasonable accommodation under the circumstances
- US District Court ME: Magistrate Judge conditionally denied defendant’s motion to compel production of plaintiff’s psychotherapist records provided plaintiff did not seek emotional injury damages at trial beyond “garden variety” emotional damages, namely, the distress than any healthy, well-adjusted person would likely feel as a result of being so victimized
Saturday, April 30, 2016
- EEOC: Lawsuit filed alleging religious discrimination under Title VII against employer who fired employees who failed to meet deadline for requesting religious exemptions to employer’s flu vaccination requirement, stating that arbitrary deadline resulted in denial of reasonable accommodation of employee’s religious beliefs
- Law Court: In vacating Probate Court’s Rule 66 contempt order removing personal representative from Estate for failing to obtain a bond following demand of an interested party, and awarding attorney’s fees in pursuing the motion, the court held that the fact that contempt motion was filed by an attorney as an officer of the court (subject to Rule 11) did not obviate requirement that contempt motion be filed under oath
- US District Court ME: Magistrate Judge granted motion for summary judgment for defendant on Fourth Amendment false arrest claim because plaintiff had been convicted of the crime for which he was arrested and § 1983 claim would necessarily imply the invalidity of the conviction, but denied summary judgment on Fourth Amendment excessive force claim (plaintiff stated that he did not resist arrest, he was slammed against a cruiser, had his arm twisted up behind his back, and was then thrown forcefully to the ground while handcuffed), including claims against bystander officers who had a realistic opportunity to prevent the use of excessive force by fellow officer
- US District Court ME: Magistrate Judge granted defendant’s motion to amend answer to include counterclaim after deadline to amend expired where defendant first learned of basis for counterclaim during deposition and conducted investigation within a reasonable period of time and filed the motion soon after completing the investigation
- EEOC: Jeffrey Burstein Named New Regional Attorney for EEOC’s New York District
- ME Dept of Labor: March/April Employer Update includes statewide listing of no-cost courses for employers on complying with employment regulations
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
- US Supreme Court: The Court held that when an employer demotes an employee out of a desire to prevent the employee from engaging in political activity that the First Amendment protects, the employee is entitled to challenge that unlawful action under the First Amendment even if the employer makes a factual mistake about the employee’s behavior and the employee had not actually engaged in First Amendment protected activity
- First Circuit: In § 1983 action, the court held that accepted Rule 68 offer of judgment for $300,000 that was silent as to whether that amount was inclusive of costs allowed plaintiff to recover costs (including attorney’s fees because 42 U.S.C. § 1988 subsumes attorneys’ fees within costs) in addition to the $300,000, despite defendant’s pre-acceptance attempt to clarify with an amended offer of judgment that $300,000 included attorney’s fees and costs
- Law Court: In finding Maine Health Security Act absolute immunity provision barred defamation and tortious interference claims by physician denied hospital staff privileges against two physicians who allegedly made negative statements about him to credentials verification organization, the court held, in part, that immunity applied even if the statements were false or made with ill will, and without regard to whether they were voluntary or mandatory
- First Circuit: The court affirmed exclusion of expert occupational medicine physician’s opinion that exposure to benzene from paints and other products caused Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, finding opinion unreliable under Rule 702
- First Circuit: The court found that removal of class action was improper where defendants did not meet their burden of showing that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million threshold under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
- DOJ: New accessible technology section of website offers links covering Enforcement, Technical Assistance and Guidance, Regulations, and Technology Initiatives, designed to help people with disabilities undersand their right to access web sites, electronic book readers, online courses, and point-of-sale devices
- MHRC: May 23rd Commission Meeting Agenda posted
Thursday, April 21, 2016
- Fourth Circuit: The court held that Title IX, which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex,” requires schools to provide transgender students access to restrooms congruent with their gender identity
- Law Court: Oral arguments scheduled for May 3rd include BCD-15-481 (in breach of implied warranty claim, whether trial court erred (1) by admitting expert testimony despite defendant’s failure to provide adequate notice of that testimony or opinion; and (2) the applicability of defendant’s warranty disclaimer); Ken-15-281 (in negligence claim by estate of truck driver against company for whom he was working at time of accident, whether Superior Court erred in applying the Comp bar by relying on the declarations sheet from workers’ compensation policy or concluding that driver was an employee of defendant’s); Pen-15-555 (in action against town for negligence in fighting a fire at plaintiff’s business, whether Superior Court erred in granting summary judgment based on Maine Tort Claims Act immunity)
- First Circuit: The court reversed 12(b)(6) dismissal of § 1983 Fourth Amendment supervisory liability claim against police superintendent arising out of shooting by police officer, finding complaint “plausible on its face” in light of prior Department of Justice report that police department had engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment
Sunday, April 17, 2016
- Law Court: The court held that oral notice can never constitute substantial compliance with the 180-day written notice of claim requirement in the Maine Tort Claims Act, even if the contents of the oral notice otherwise meet the requirements of the Act
- Press Herald: Social worker sues Riverview Psychiatric Center, former boss
- Press Herald: Harpswell man hurt in drunken-driving crash sues driver, establishments that served her
Thursday, April 14, 2016
- US District Court ME: Magistrate granted motion to prohibit the use of two witnesses during motion practice or trial where witnesses were not identified in plaintiff’s initial disclosures or answers to interrogatories and plaintiff offered no reason why he could not discover the possibility that the witnesses had relevant knowledge concerning his claims during discovery
- US Supreme Court: Oral argument set for April 20, 2016, in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, which will decide question presented: Whether “service advisors” at car dealerships are exempt under 29 U.S.C. §213(b)(10)(A) from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime-pay requirements
- MHRC: April 11th Commission Meeting minutes reflect that Stuart Evans has been hired as a new Investigator
- EEOC: Settlement of Title VII lawsuit against Maine farm for creating and maintaining a sexually hostile work environment for female farmworkers since 2003 includes enactment of policies and procedures and a $120,000 fund to compensate victims
- Press Herald: Maine farm settles lawsuit accusing it of allowing sexual harassment of women
