Discrimination ~ Retaliation
*Barker v. Utah Department of Environmental Quality (10th Cir., January 28, 2022) (affirming dismissal Barker’s complaint for retaliation against her because of her earlier, settled lawsuit from 2015: Barker failed to name the DEQ as the defendant in her amended complaint, did not timely file her discrimination charge with the EEOC, and her section 1983 allegations were conclusory and failed to explain what the various defendants had done to violate her rights)
ERISA and Employee Pension Plans
Hughes v. Northwestern University (U.S., January 24, 2022) (vacating dismissal of plaintiffs’ claim that the University had violated ERISA’s duty of prudence: In affirming dismissal, the 7th Circuit focused on the participants’ ultimate choice over their investments in the plan and overlooked possibly imprudent decisions by the University)
Workers Compensation ~ Occupational Safety and Disease
*Lueras v. Commissioner (10th Cir., January 27, 2022) (affirming denial of SSI benefits: the administrative law judge properly weighed the three proffered medical opinions, balancing each against the record as a whole, and his conclusions were supported by substantial evidence; any error regarding social interactions was harmless)
*Jackson v. Black Butte Coal Company (10th Cir., January 25, 2022) (vacating denial of benefits under the Black Lung Act: the administrative law judge failed to explain why he discounted one medical opinion as equivocal but accepted a different, but equally equivocal, opinion)
*Cases marked with an asterisk are not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estop
