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Early Dismissal Strategies When Dealing with a Dishonest Plaintiff

By William (Bill) Wortel

Dishonest plaintiffs can make it difficult, and in some cases impossible, to move successfully for summary judgment. Indeed, a dishonest plaintiff who understands the legal landscape can easily defeat summary judgment by claiming that there exists “direct evidence” of discrimination in the form of an admission by management that the challenged employment action was motivated by discriminatory animus (e.g., “my supervisor told me he was firing me because of my age”). No matter how much evidence the employer has to establish the falsity of the plaintiff's statement, the court sometimes has no choice but to deny the employer's motion for summary judgment and allow the case to proceed to a jury trial.

While there sometimes is nothing that can be done about a dishonest plaintiff other than to attack his/her credibility in front of a jury, it is critical to ensure that all early dismissal strategies are explored before reaching the dispositive motion stage of case. These early dismissal strategies include examination of the plaintiffs' representations in their post-employment bankruptcy petitions and in forma pauperis (IFP) applications.

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