Summary Judgment in Title VII Action Reversed in Part, and Property Matter
Alvarez v. Royal Atlantic Developers, Inc., No. 08-15358, concerned a national origin discrimination action under Title VII claiming that defendant terminated plaintiff because she was Cuban-American. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendant in part on the ground that Title VII did not require the employer's needs and expectations to be objectively reasonable; it simply prohibited the employer from discriminating on the basis of membership in a protected class. However, the court reversed in part, holding that plaintiff's letter to management contained no threats against the company or anyone else, nor did it provide a reasonable basis for inferring that she would try to disrupt operations.
Neumont v. Fla., No. 04-13610, involved an action by a class of property owners in Monroe County, Florida, seeking to stop enforcement of an ordinance restricting vacation rentals. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendant, holding that 1) the Florida Supreme Court advised the Eleventh Circuit that the ordinance was not unlawfully enacted; and 2) plaintiffs had an obligation to exhaust their state remedies for the specific ordinance and its application before they could challenge a taking under that ordinance in federal court.
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