'It's Like They Lynched You:' Law Professor's Discrimination Claim Reaches High Court

Texas Lawyer, 'It's Like They Lynched You:' Law Professor's Discrimination Claim Reaches High Court:

A former Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law professor alleging coworkers ruined her reputation in a defamation campaign appeared to find friendly ears at the Texas Supreme Court.

During oral argument, the justices repeatedly expressed skepticism over SMU's argument that the use of the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, or TCHRA, to bring discrimination and retaliation claims could preempt an alternate common law claim for defamation.

The issue came before the court as a certified question from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In it, the plaintiff, Professor Cheryl Butler [Google Scholar], is appealing a district court decision that granted SMU's and individual defendant's motion to dismiss her common law torts.

The Fifth Circuit asked whether the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act preempts common law defamation claims against another employee to the extent the claims are based on the same course of conduct as discrimination or retaliation claims asserted against the employer.

According to Butler's brief, prepared and argued by Ithaca, New York attorney Ezra Ishmael Young, Butler, who is black, experienced a slew of tortious abuses and violations of Texas and federal workplace equal opportunity laws while on a tenure tract as law professor.

Young notes that SMU Law, founded in 1925, did not tenure its first black woman until 2015, emphasizing, "that 90-year streak was no accident."

Young described Butler as an academic star her whole life. ...

Although Butler was recognized during her early years at SMU for her published articles in law review articles, gave lectures around the nation on issues within her expertise and had sustained teaching engagement at SMU and nationwide, when it came time for tenure review she was ultimately denied. ...

The only black tenured woman then tenured "shared bluntly with Butler a difficult truth: 'It's like they lynched you,'" the Young brief states.

Bloomberg Law, Texas Justices Wary of Worker's Tort Rights Against Coworkers:

Justices Evan Young and Jane Bland appeared skeptical Tuesday of allowing former Southern Methodist University law professor Cheryl Butler to proceed with allegations that SMU and its employees discriminated and retaliated against her by denying her tenure application.

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