Florida Employment Lawyer Blog

The blog has previously posted about the Eleventh Circuit's controversial opinion in Corbitt v. Home Depot. The appellate court, with a 2-1 majority, affirmed summary judgment in a steamy sexual harassment lawsuit. A district court judge, sitting by designation, wrote a forceful dissent. The panel's decision was immediately criticized and the Eleventh Circuit decided on its own - without being requested by any party - to vacate the panel opinion and to rehear the case en banc. It was widely anticipated that the full court would reverse summary judgment and overrule its much earlier decision in Mendoza v. Borden, Inc.. The Mendoza opinion made it next to impossible for victims of sexual harassment to get to a jury in federal court. Mendoza had also been widely criticized. Earlier today, the Eleventh Circuit, at the request of both parties, dismissed the Corbitt case in its entirety. (No doubt because the parties settled the case). In dismissing the entire case, the Eleventh Circuit made clear that its original decision in Corbitt was and remains vacated. The controversial Corbitt decision is gone. This may reflect a wholesale change in the Eleventh Circuit's sexual harassment jurisprudence. Of course, the original Mendoza decision, itself widely criticized, will remain binding law in Georgia, Alabama and Florida until another case finds it way to the appellate court. Plaintiff employment lawyers now have Mendoza squarely in their sights.