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Desmond v. Mukasey

The D.C. Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court in a case in which the plaintiff claimed that the FBI discriminated and retaliated against him when it dismissed him from the FBI Academy because of his post-traumatic stress disorder, in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The appeals court found no error by the trial court concerning the plaintiff's retaliation claim but found that the plaintiff presented enough evidence to allow a reasonable jury to make certain findings in his favor regarding his disability claim and, therefore, reversed the grant of summary judgment on this issue.

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Argued March 10, 2008

Before: GINSBURG, RANDOLPH, and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits federal agencies from discriminating in employment on the basis of disability, defined in part as “a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more . . . major life activities.” 29 U.S.C. § 705(20)(B)(i). In this case, after being dismissed from the FBI Academy, appellant sued the Attorney General under the Rehabilitation Act, alleging that the FBI discriminated and retaliated against him because of his post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental impairment that substantially limited him in the major life activity of sleeping. The district court granted summary judgment to the government on the discrimination claim, holding that appellant had failed to demonstrate a substantial limitation in sleep, and that even if he had done so, he had failed to show that the FBI’s reasons for dismissing him were pretextual. Reviewing the matter de novo, we hold that (1) sleeping is a major life activity for purposes of the Rehabilitation Act; (2) appellant has adduced enough evidence to allow a reasonable jury to find that he was substantially limited in that basic human function; and (3) by vigorously disputing the FBI’s professed reasons for his dismissal, appellant has created a genuine issue of material fact regarding the credibility of the FBI’s explanation for its decision, rendering summary judgment on the pretext question improper. As for appellant’s retaliation claim, which survived summary judgment and was rejected by a jury, appellant challenges the admission of a certain document into evidence and the wording of jury instructions. We reject the former challenge, finding no abuse of discretion by the district court, and the latter, finding any error-if error there was-harmless.

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