In a 5-4 ruling that will make it more difficult for employees to prove civil rights retaliation claims, the U.S. Supreme Court found that courts should apply a heightened "but for" causation standard to cases in which plaintiffs allege an employer took adverse action against them for reporting workplace discrimination.
The June 24 decision in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar was also a reversal for a team of Texas plaintiffs lawyers, who won nearly $500,000 in attorney fees from a U.S. District Court in Dallas after they prevailed in a $3.4 million jury verdict for their client three years ago [See "Fees for All: Judge Approves Nearly $500,000 for Counsel Who Won Title VII Suit" Texas Lawyer, Aug. 16, 2010, page 1.]
