Cases & Developments

Opinion and Order granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a former adjunct professor at Westchester Community College, brought disability discrimination and retaliation claims against the College and multiple officials after it declined to offer her additional classes following a series of hostile and abusive interactions, including one in which she “berated, humiliated, and cursed at” a student she suspected of plagiarism. In granting summary judgment to the College on her discrimination claim, the court found that although plaintiff had been transported to an emergency room with complaints of an irregular heartbeat, her medical records did not reveal a diagnosis of a heart condition and discovery did not produce evidence that officials regarded her as disabled. Though plaintiff had complained of discrimination in multiple emails, the court further found that she was unable to establish either causation or pretext in either her discrimination or retaliation claims, noting a lack of evidence that anything other than the College’s dissatisfaction with her hostile conduct was the reason she was not reappointed.   

Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment.  Plaintiff, a former student at the University of Louisville who was approved for 1.5x time for assignments as an accommodation for a learning disability, brought discrimination and retaliation claims against the University after he failed to complete assignments for a summer online course with no time limits other than the end of the term.  Less than four hours before that deadline, he emailed the professor that he was having trouble with his auto-reader.  When she required him to document this issue with technical support, he accused her of refusing to provide the accommodation and eventually filed a grievance.  When the fall term began, he dropped two of his four courses to “focus” on the grievance process, which resulted in ineligibility for his Pell Grant, a balance due, and a block on future registration.  In granting summary judgment to the University, the court held that plaintiff’s discrimination claim failed for lack of evidence that the University held animus toward the disabled or that it treated comparable non-disabled students differently.  Though the court found plaintiff had satisfied his prima facie case of retaliation because his Pell Grant was revoked shortly after he filed his grievance, it held he failed to show that his loss of eligibility due to his shift to a part-time schedule was pretextual.