Employers may be sued for discrimination more than once, but usually later lawsuits are based on different events. A Texas employer recently persuaded a jury that new claims against it were fabricated by employees who knew about a prior successful lawsuit against the company and then made “copy-cat” claims.
The company showed the jury that the employees’ lawsuit used the same allegations as the earlier case, and the same lawyers brought both cases. The employees denied knowing anything about the prior case, but the jury saw an email by one of the employees recruiting witnesses to meet with the lawyers from the prior case and referring to the prior case. After the jury ruled against them, the employees filed a motion for a new trial, asserting that this type of evidence should not have been permitted. The Court rejected their arguments, because the evidence was relevant to the employer’s “copy-cat” defense, and the jury was entitled to consider whether the employee’s testimony was inconsistent with the other evidence. Vital v. National Oilwell Varco, No. 12:-CV-01357 (S.D.Tex. Nov. 30 2015).
