Cases & Developments

Opinion affirming-in-part and reversing-in-part summary judgment in favor of the College.  Plaintiff, a former Professor of Health and Physical Education at Louisiana College who continued to teach as an adjunct “Senior Professor” after her retirement, brought discrimination, retaliation, contract, and defamation claims against the College after her contract was not renewed following her medical leave for cancer treatment.  The Fifth Circuit reversed summary judgment in favor of the College on plaintiff’s discrimination and retaliation claims, finding that there was a genuine issue of fact as to whether she had told the College she would not be returning for the new academic year, which the College had asserted as its legitimate basis for her nonrenewal.  It affirmed summary judgment in favor of the College on her contract claim, finding that her adjunct contract expressly disclaimed any expectation of continued employment.  It also affirmed summary judgment in favor of the College on her defamation claim, finding that she failed to provide evidence that a response by the College President to a posting by plaintiff’s sister in the College’s Alumni Facebook Group was made in bad faith.