Contract ~ Noncompete ~ Trade Secret ~ Wrongful Termination
*Williams v. United States (10th Cir., April 22, 2021) (dismissing Williams’ appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction: Williams raised no nonfrivolous argument for reversal of the the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the United States on his claims for tortious interference with his employment and the U.S. had not waived it sovereign immunity)
Discrimination ~ Retaliation
*Skerce v. Torgeson Electric Company (10th Cir., April 20, 2021) (affirming various district court judgments on Skerce’s employment claims, but reversing summary judgment on his ADAAA and retaliation claims: the court committed legal error by failing to consider Skerce’s elbow injury under the ADAAA because it was a temporary condition; moreover, the court failed to consider Skerce’s retaliation claim based on the elbow injury)
Ibrahim v. Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (10th Cir., April 20, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of the Alliance on Ibrahim’s gender and religious discrimination claims, but reversing summary judgment on his race discrimination claim: Ibrahim created a a genuine issue of material fact on that claim)
*Valencia v. Board of Regents (10th Cir., April 19, 2021) (affirming dismissal of Valencia’s substantive due process claim and summary judgment on his procedural due process, gender and national origin discrimination, and retaliation claims)
ERISA
*Stachmus V. The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (10th Cir., April 23, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of Guardian on Stachmus’s declaratory judgment claim that he and his sons are the rightful beneficiaries of the life insurance policy at issue: the district court did not consider unpreserved arguments, and Stachmus failed to carry the burden of showing he and his sons were beneficiaries)
Wages
AMG Capital Management, LLC, v. Federal Trade Commission (U.S., April 22, 2021) (reversing 9th Circuit’s grant, under sectin 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, of an injunction and $1.27 billion restitution and disgorgement order in response to allegations of deceptive payday lending practices: Section 13(b), however, does not authorize the Commission to seek, or a court to award, equitable monetary relief such as restitution or disgorgement)
*Nazinitsky v. Integris Baptist Medical Center, Inc. (10th Cir., April 21, 2021) (affirming summary judgment in favor of Integris on Nazinitsky’s equal pay act claim: the market value of her specialty accounts in part for the pay disparity between her and her (male) colleagues; in addition, Integris articulated legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for the disparity)
Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease
Carr v. Saul, Commissioner of Social Security (U.S., April 22, 2021) (reversing denial of disability benefits by ALJs appointed by lower level SEC staff, held violative of the Constitution’s appointments clause. Claimants argued they were entitled to fresh review by properly appointed ALJs, but the 10th Circuit held they had not raised this issue is their administrative proceedings. The Supreme Court held the 10th Circuit erred in imposing an issue-exhaustion requirement)
*Tuttle v. Commissioner (10th Cir., April 22, 2021) (affirming denial of disability benefits and social security income: the ALJ committed no legal error regarding Tuttle’s doctor’s opinion, and Tuttle showed no authority for the proposition that disability for a closed period entails ongoing benefits)
*Cases marked with an asterisk are not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.
