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Robert Collier v. Dallas County Hospital District, dba Parkland Health & Hospital System

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 19-10761 · judgment September 30, 2020

Certiorari denied · May 17, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability

Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and counsel who has filed here before, and down for a petition filed soon after the judgment below.

Questions presented

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discriminatory conduct in the workplace that is “sufficiently severe or pervasive” to create a hostile work environment. Meritor Sav. Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 67 (1986). Meritor and Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 21 (1993), stated that the “mere utterance” of an offensive epithet does not create a hostile work environment. But in Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 788 (1998), the Court said that one “extremely serious” incident could be sufficient. Courts of appeals disagree as to whether a single use of a racial epithet is a “mere utterance” that can never support a hostile-work-environment claim or an “extremely serious” incident that can. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether an employee’s exposure to the N-word in the workplace is severe enough to send his Title VII hostile-work-environment claim to a trier of fact.

  2. Whether and in what circumstances racial epithets in the workplace are “extremely serious” incidents sufficient to create a hostile work environment under Title VII, rather than nonactionable “mere utterances.”

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian Wolfman
Georgetown Law Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic

For respondent
Joshua James Bennett
Carter Arnett PLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. May 17 2021
    Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Howard University School of Law Human and Civil Rights Clinic GRANTED.
  2. May 17 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  3. Apr 27 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/13/2021.
  4. Apr 23 2021
    Reply of petitioner Robert Collier filed.
  5. Apr 08 2021
    Brief of respondent Dallas County Hospital District, dba Parkland Health & Hospital System in opposition filed.
  6. Mar 18 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Social Science Experts, Race Equity Scholars, Law Professors, and Civil Rights Entities filed.
  7. Mar 02 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 8, 2021.
  8. Mar 01 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 18, 2021 to April 8, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  9. Feb 16 2021
    Response Requested. (Due March 18, 2021)
  10. Feb 15 2021
    Brief amicus curiae of NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc filed.
  11. Feb 12 2021
    Motion for leave to file amicus brief filed by Howard University School of Law Human and Civil Rights Clinic.
  12. Feb 03 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/19/2021.
  13. Jan 27 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Dallas County Hospital District, dba Parkland Health & Hospital System to respond filed.
  14. Jan 15 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 25, 2021)