Cases & Developments

Report and Recommendation to enforce parties’ settlement agreement.  Plaintiff, a former participant in the residency program at Meharry Medical College, brought sexual harassment, retaliation, and disability discrimination claims against the College after she reported incidents of harassment to a supervisor and was terminated from the program.  After the court granted-in-part and denied-in-part the College’s motion for summary judgment, the parties agreed in mediation to terms to settle the remaining claims, including plaintiff’s return to the program.  Plaintiff, however, refused to enter into the proposed Settlement Agreement and Release, citing that she had subsequently learned that the School’s accreditation was probationary, which she alleged would make it harder for her to transfer to a different program.  In recommending to grant the School’s motion to enforce the agreement, the U.S. Magistrate Judge first noted that plaintiff was not a resident in the program when the School’s accreditor placed its programs on probationary status and required it to provide notice to its residents.  The court then held (1) that the School did not otherwise have a duty to notify plaintiff of its accreditation status, and (2) that plaintiff had presented no evidence that the School had otherwise concealed the information, which was posted on its website, or that the accreditation status would make her transfer harder.