ERISA’s Fee-Shifting Provision Permits Awards Against Parties, Not Attorneys
Posted on Apr 14, 2021 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on ERISA’s Fee-Shifting Provision Permits Awards Against Parties, Not Attorneys
Does ERISA’s fee-shifting provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(1), permit a court to award fees against a party’s counsel? Deciding this issue of first impression that has divided district courts within and without the Eleventh Circuit, the court in Peer v. Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston, 2021 WL 1257440 (11th Cir. Apr. 6, 2021), held that it does not. Although the...
En Banc Court Affirms Summary Judgment in Sharply Divided Decision
Posted on Aug 6, 2020 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on En Banc Court Affirms Summary Judgment in Sharply Divided Decision
In Gogel v. Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia, Inc., 2020 WL 4342677 (11th Cir. July 29, 2020), a divided en banc court affirmed the grant of summary judgment to an employer on retaliation claims under Title VII and § 1981, reversing the original panel opinion and producing some testy exchanges among members of the court. Plaintiff Gogel alleged that she was the victim of gender and...
Eleventh Circuit Resets Title VII Retaliation Claim Standard
Posted on Apr 4, 2020 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on Eleventh Circuit Resets Title VII Retaliation Claim Standard
Undaunted by COVID-19, the Eleventh Circuit pressed forward with its work in Monaghan v. Worldpay US, Inc., 2020 WL 1608155 (11th Cir. Apr. 2, 2020), which reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment for an employer, sending the plaintiff-employee’s Title VII race retaliation claim to a jury. The district court had both applied the wrong standard and failed to limit its...
Police Detective Can’t Be Fired for Inability to Receive Taser Shock, Holds Divided Panel on Remand from En Banc Court
Posted on Aug 22, 2019 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on Police Detective Can’t Be Fired for Inability to Receive Taser Shock, Holds Divided Panel on Remand from En Banc Court
On August 15, 2019, the Eleventh Circuit decided the employment discrimination case of Lewis v. City of Union City, 2019 WL 3821804, that had been remanded from the en banc court, having decided that the appropriate standard for comparator evidence is whether the proposed comparators are “similarly situated in all material respects.” The panel’s new opinion greatly resembles its first...
Court Grants En Banc Rehearing in Employment Retaliation Case
Posted on Jun 17, 2019 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on Court Grants En Banc Rehearing in Employment Retaliation Case
The Eleventh Circuit today granted the defendant employer’s petition for rehearing en banc in Gogel v. Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia, Inc., 904 F.3d 1226 (11th Cir. 2018). The now-vacated panel opinion, authored by Judge Martin, had affirmed summary judgment for the defendant on the plaintiff’s discrimination claims but revived her claim for retaliation. Judge Julie Carnes wrote...
Cash from Corn: Plaintiff Injured at Corn Harvesting Facility Advances to Trial
Posted on Jun 11, 2019 in Employment Law and Employee Benefits | Comments Off on Cash from Corn: Plaintiff Injured at Corn Harvesting Facility Advances to Trial
The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the employer of a forklift driver who injured a truck driver picking up a shipment of corn in Newcomb v. Spring Creek Cooler Inc., 2019 WL 2364498 (11th Cir. June 5, 2019). Because the plaintiff picking up a load of corn at the defendant’s facility was responsible for the count and condition of the load, he...