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Mary McDonald v. City of Wichita, Kansas

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 17-3043 · judgment June 1, 2018

Certiorari denied · January 22, 2019

Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

The plaintiff in a Title VII retaliation case must “establish that his or her protected activity was a butfor cause of the alleged adverse action by the employer.” Univ. of Texas Sw. Med. Ctr. v. Nassar, 570 U.S. 338, 362 (2013). Does a court err by instructing a jury that a plaintiff must prove that retaliation is “the” but-for cause of the adverse action, which implies a sole-cause standard, rather than “a” but-for cause, as this Court’s precedents clearly state?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Theodore J. Lickteig
Lickteig Law Firm, LLC

For respondent
Jennifer M. Hill
McDonald Tinker PA

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

Jan 22 2019
Petition DENIED.
Jan 02 2019
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/18/2019.
Dec 20 2018
Waiver of right of respondent City of Wichita, Kansas to respond filed.
Oct 01 2018
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 21, 2018)