02/26/2008
CONTACT: Melissa Sharp, 202-314-2068
Washington, D.C.--The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion today that will help small business owners defend themselves against employment discrimination lawsuits.
In the case Sprint v. Mendelsohn, the court ruled that courts are not required or barred from admitting "me-too" evidence--testimony by non-parties who are not similarly situated to the plaintiff--in employment law discrimination cases. This approach is consistent with Federal Rule of Evidence 403, which allows the trial court to exclude even relevant evidence on the grounds of potential "unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury."
In this case, the 10th Circuit ruled that the trial court had erred for not admitting "me-too" evidence. Upholding this standard would have been disastrous for small business owners. If trial courts were required to admit "me-too" evidence, then in every employment discrimination case, an employer would face litigating not only the decision being challenged, but also the circumstances of every termination or other adverse employment action taken against each of the "me-too" witnesses.
The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation, the nation's leading legal advocate for small business owners in the nation's courts, filed an amicus brief in this case urging the court to reverse the 10th Circuit's decision.
"The Supreme Court's unanimous decision today is an important step forward in our justice system for small businesses," said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB's Legal Foundation. "If 'me-too' evidence was required to be admitted, then every plaintiff in an employment discrimination case could produce a number of people to say that they think they were discriminated against by someone at the business, resulting in longer, more drawn-out trials. NFIB is pleased that the court ruled against allowing ‘me-too' evidence to be used in all employment discrimination cases."
