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Anita Smith v. Vestavia Hills Board of Education

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 18-11626 · judgment November 5, 2019

Certiorari denied · November 2, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

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

Questions presented

Nearly thirty years ago, Congress replaced Title VII’s but-for causation standard with the “more forgiving” motivating factor standard. Bostock v. Clayton County, GA., 590 U.S. ___, 2020 WL 3146686, at *5 (June 15, 2020). Despite this change, the Courts of Appeals continue to require some Title VII plaintiffs to meet butfor causation in order to survive summary judgment. The questions presented are:

  1. Is a plaintiff asserting a Title VII status-based discrimination claim required to meet the but-for causation standard (as variously articulated by the Circuits) in order to survive summary judgment or may she survive summary judgment by meeting the motivating factor standard?

  2. If both motivating factor and but-for causation standards are available to a Title VII status-based discrimination claimant, must the claimant specifically plead the motivating factor standard in her complaint or may she raise it for the first time in response to a motion for summary judgment?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Charles Edward Guerrier
Haynes & Haynes, P.C.

For respondent
Mark Seymour Boardman
Boardman, Carr, Petelos, Watkins, & Ogle, P.C

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Nov 02 2020
    Petition DENIED. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
  2. Oct 14 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/30/2020.
  3. Oct 07 2020
    Reply of petitioner Anita Smith filed.
  4. Sep 23 2020
    Brief of respondent Vestavia Hills Board of Education in opposition filed.
  5. Aug 06 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 23, 2020.
  6. Aug 05 2020
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 24, 2020 to September 23, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Jun 22 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 24, 2020)