Liss v. Heritage Health & Housing, Inc.

Background

The defendant, Heritage Health & Housing, Inc., submitted a joint request to stay, or pause, all pretrial deadlines while the court considered the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is a ruling that can resolve a case without a trial when the governing legal standard is met. The request stated that the motion, if granted, could eliminate the need for a trial.

The request concerned the plaintiff’s alleged whistleblower-retaliation claim. The defendant described the elements it believed the plaintiff needed to establish, including protected activity, the employer’s awareness of that activity, and adverse action because of the protected activity. The defendant also stated that it would present legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for the plaintiff’s termination and argue that the plaintiff could not show those reasons were false or that retaliation was the real reason.

Parties’ Positions

The plaintiff acknowledged the elements she needed to prove but stated that she could defeat summary judgment by showing weaknesses, inconsistencies, or contradictions in the employer’s stated reasons for her termination. The parties jointly requested the stay after conferring and being unable to resolve the matters in controversy.

Ruling

The court granted the request to stay the pretrial deadlines. The endorsed order stated that the plaintiff would not be prejudiced because she joined the request, and that continuing with pretrial procedures could unnecessarily burden the parties and the court if the summary-judgment motion succeeded. Judge Laura Taylor Swain did not decide the summary-judgment motion, whether the plaintiff’s retaliation claim had merit, or whether the case would proceed to trial.