Appellate Law

CA1: another age discrimination claim fails

By S. COTUS

Arroyo-Audifred v. Verizon Wireless, No. 07-1661 affirms a grant of summary judgment in an age discrimination case.  Some claims are resolved on statute of limitations grounds, and some are resolved because the plaintiff messed up the summary judgment procedure.  The grounds for not promoting the plaintiff were a lack of ?professional maturity? (ah, nice and vague).  The plaintiff claims that a ?yawn? during an interview showed some animus.  But, the First doesn?t buy that.  Strangely, we all know that in real interviews, if someone yawns it means that the entire interview is a sham and that the interviewee?s time is being wasted.  For this reason, I believe that employers should be required to post bonds before interviewing people.  There were a bunch of other small comments, but the First says that they don?t indicate any discriminatory animus.

The First pauses to note that when submitting an ?opposing statement of facts? for purposes of R. 56 and the local rules that it is insufficient to say ? "Denied, as it is a matter of veracity for the jury to assess, together with all the circumstances in the case."  In essence, specific facts are required. 

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).