Opinion ID: 2972475
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: District Court Compliance with Order of Remand

Text: As a preliminary matter, we must determine whether the district court failed to comply with this court’s prior order of remand by allowing Specialty to move for summary judgment on the THA claim. In Chandler I, after reversing the district court and ruling that the THA protected workers such as Chandler, this Court continued: Furthermore, we find that there is a genuine issue of material fact whether Beck fired Chandler because he regarded her as disabled. The undisputed evidence in the record is that Beck lost confidence in Chandler only after he discovered that she had taken an overdose of pills in a suicide attempt. His stated reason was that he thought her act of intentionally overdosing was irresponsible. Specialty has offered no evidence of a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for the termination other than to emphasize that Beck considered only her act of overdosing and not her mental condition. This unsupported explanation is not sufficient to overcome Chandler’s evidence. Therefore, the case shall be remanded to the district court for trial on the THA claim. Chandler I, 283 F.3d at 824 (citation omitted). The mandate of our opinion provided as follows: “[W]e REVERSE the district court’s grant of summary judgment for Defendant and REMAND the THA claim to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.” Id. at 827. Chandler argues that this language directed the district court to hold a trial on her THA claim without allowing Specialty to file a second motion for summary judgment. 4 “The customary procedure on remand creates a duty on the part of lower courts, which obtain jurisdiction after receiving the mandate of an appellate court, to obey the terms of the mandate and to carry it into effect.” Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Michigan Dep’t of Natural Res., 71 F.3d 1197, 1202 (6th Cir. 1995) (citing 1B James W. Moore & Jo D. Lucas, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 0.404[10] (2d ed.1993)). When a lower court is directed to proceed “consistent with [an appellate court’s] opinion,” then that entire opinion is incorporated into the mandate. Id. at 1201; see also Jones v. Lewis, 957 F.2d 260, 262 (6th Cir. 1992) (citing Bankers Trust Co. v. Bethlehem Steel Corp., 761 F.2d 943, 949-50 (3d Cir. 1985). “Lower courts must then determine the scope of an appellate mandate, and in so doing they may consider majority and dissenting opinions, as well as issues not decided expressly or impliedly by the Court.” Fort Gratiot, 71 F.3d at 1202. Nonetheless, although a trial court is bound to “proceed in accordance with the mandate and law of the case as established by the appellate court,” Hanover Ins. Co. v. Am. Eng’g Co., 105 F.3d 306, 312 (6th Cir 1997) (quoting Petition of U.S. Steel Corp., 479 F.2d 489, 493 (6th Cir. 1973)), an appellate court’s decision reversing summary judgment on one issue does not preclude the district court, on remand, from granting summary judgment on other claims or issues not previously before the court of appeals. See Linton v. United Parcel Serv., 15 F.3d 1365, 1369 (6th Cir. 1994); Jones, 957 F.2d at 262-63. In Chandler I, we directed our THA analysis towards determining whether the THA applied to the discriminatory termination of an employee in Chandler’s situation. This is 5 substantively distinct from the district court’s subsequent determination that Chandler could not establish a prima facie case of disability discrimination pursuant to the THA, an issue that we had not addressed. This issue of prima facie liability was never briefed before the district court, and was not reviewed by this Court in Chandler I. Accordingly, the district court appropriately allowed Specialty to move for summary judgment on this issue. See Linton, 15 F.3d at 1369 (holding that the district court had not erred on remand by granting summary judgment on a separate issue than that which the appellate court had deemed inappropriate for summary judgment); Jones, 957 F.2d at 262-63.