Opinion ID: 4460749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Defendants’ Same-Action Defense

Text: The district court also concluded that the defendants had proven that they would not have advanced Ms. Greer’s application to an interview even if she were not in the Navy Reserves. Because this is an affirmative defense, the defendants had the burden of proving that “no reasonable trier of fact could find other than for the moving party.” Leone v. Owsley, 810 F.3d 1149, 1153 (10th Cir. 2015) (emphasis omitted) (quoting Calderone v. United States, 799 F.2d 254, 259 (6th Cir. 1986)). The defendants have not met this heavy burden. As discussed above, a factfinder could reasonably attribute Ms. Hensley’s decision to antimilitary animus rather than an ironclad city practice. So the defendants were not entitled to summary judgment on their affirmative defense.