The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the trial court properly granted and refused to reopen summary judgment against a plaintiff s ADEA claim. The plaintiff brought ADEA and ADA claims against the employer. The employer won summary judgment on the ADEA claim because the plaintiff was unable to produce evidence to refute the employer s proffered nondiscriminatory reasons for not hiring the plaintiff. The plaintiff s ADA claim went to trial during which evidence was produced that the plaintiff then used to attempt to persuade the court to reopen the ADEA claim. The appeals court reasoned that it could not set aside the trial court s grant of summary judgment on the basis of evidence produced during trial on an ADA claim because it could only consider evidence that was before the trial court at time summary judgment was granted.
Subjective decisions can be just as valid as objective reasons.
The court pointed out that the employer s handbook stated that employees had no contracts guaranteeing their continuous employment and could be terminated at the employer s option. Mike Zinser is an honors graduate of the University of Cincinnati and he received his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1975. He is a member of the Antitrust, Labor Law and Litigation Sections of the American Bar Association.