No. 23A356

Laura Barbour Bowes, as Executor of the Estate of Eva Palmer v. Liberty University, Inc.

Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2023-10-19
Status: Presumed Complete
Type: A
Tags: burden-shifting circuit-split employment-discrimination McDonnell-Douglas ministerial-exception prima-facie-case
Latest Conference: N/A
Question Presented (from Petition)

Question not identified.

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Fourth Circuit improperly conflates the prima facie stage of the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework with the employer's legitimate, non-discriminatory reason stage by imposing an evidentiary threshold that effectively requires plaintiffs to disprove the employer's proffered reason at the initial stage, thereby creating a circuit split and departing from this Court's precedent

Docket Entries

2023-10-20
Application (23A356) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until November 17, 2023. See Rule 13.5.
2023-10-17
Application (23A356) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 26, 2023 to December 1, 2023, submitted to The Chief Justice.

Attorneys

Liberty University, Inc.
King Fitchett TowerWoods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, Respondent
The Estate of Eva Palmer
Richard Franklin Hawkins IIIThe Hawkins Law Firm, PC, Petitioner