Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (U.S., June 27, 2022) (reversing summary judgment in favor of the school district on Kennedy’s first-amendment religious-freedom claim: the free-exercise and free-speech clauses of the first amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance (prayer)from government reprisal; the Constitution […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation *Avant v. Doke (10th Cir., June 23, 2022) (recognizing a First-Amendment right against retaliation for perceived, rather than actual, speech in the context of a claim for retaliatory discharge) Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease U.S. v. Washington (U.S., June 21, 2022) (reversing determination that Washington State law was constitutional that […]
DISCRIMINATION ~ RETALIATION *Peterson v. Williams (10th Cir., May 5, 2022) (affirming defendants’ motion to dismiss Peterson’s first-amendment retaliation claim: Peterson failed to plausibly plead that he spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern) *Cases marked with an asterisk are not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, […]
Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secrets ~ Wrongful Termination *Donez v. Leprino Foods, Inc. (10th Cir., February 18, 2022) (affirming summary judgment for Leprino on Donez’s claims for wrongful-termination against public policy and discrimination: even if Colorado recognized self-defense as an exception to at-will termination, Donez failed to show that he was fired due to […]
Discrimination~Retaliation *Flores v. City of Farmington (10th Cir., December 13, 2021) (affirming judgment on the pleadings and summary judgment in favor of Farmington on the plaintiffs’ claims of First-Amendment free-speech retaliation and religious discrimination: because the first defendant’s speech was made pursuant to his official duties, it did not enjoy First-Amendment protection; the second defendant’s […]
Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination Tomkins v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (10th Cir., October 25, 2021) (affirming dismissal of Tompkins’ administrative procedures act and due process claims for lack of jurisdiction: the Veterans’ Benefit Act is Tompkins’ exclusive remedy, Tompkins failed to identify an applicable waiver of sovereign immunity, and […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation Duda v. Elder (10th Cir., July 27, 2021) (affirming denial of qualified immunity to Sheriff Elder on Duda’s retaliation claim: the sheriff fired Deputy Duda for violating “a neutral policy prohibiting on-duty political activity,” but he did not apply it neutrally: he allowed political activity in his favor but fired Duda when […]
Discrimination~Retaliation Bird v. West Valley City (10th Cir., October 14, 2020) (affirming verdict in favor of West Valley on Bird’s first amendment retaliation claim: the district court did not err in denying a new trial, nor was the language in the verdict form erroneous)
Discrimination ~ Retaliation Bunn v. Perdue (10th Cir., July 28, 2020) (dismissing as untimely Bunn’s challenge to summary judgment in favor of Perdue) *Jorita v. Gray-Little (10th Cir., July 27, 2020) (reversing denial of qualified immunity to administrators of the University of Kansas on Jorita’s claim that she was fired in retaliation for exercising her […]
Discrimination ~ Retaliation Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru (U.S., July 8, 2020) (reversing judgment in favor of plaintiffs on their disability- and age-discrimination claims: as employees of religious institutions, the First Amendment’s religion clauses foreclose the adjudication of their employment-discrimination claims) *Wilson v. Textron Aviation, Inc. (10th Cir., July 8, 2020) (affirming summary […]
