Lewis v. Humboldt Acquisition Corp., No. 09-6381 (6th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant dismissed Lewis from her position as a registered nurse at one of the company's retirement homes. Lewis sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. 12112(a), in 2007, claiming that the company fired her because she had a medical condition that made it difficult for her to walk and that occasionally required her to use a wheelchair. The company responded that it dismissed Lewis based on an outburst at work. The ADA prohibited discrimination "because of" the disability of an employee. The district court adopted the company’s proposed jury instruction: that Lewis could prevail only if "the fact that plaintiff was a qualified individual with a disability was the sole reason for the defendant's decision to terminate plaintiff." The Sixth Circuit reversed, citing the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision, Gross v. FBL Financial Services, and stated that neither the use of "solely" nor plaintiff’s proposed "motivating factor" was appropriate.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on March 17, 2011.
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