United States First Circuit

In plaintiff's Title VII suit claiming that she was sexually harassed by a co-worker and subsequently by a supervisor at a Fort Buchanan Army garrison in Puerto Rico, and then fired in retaliation for filing her sexual harassment complaints, judgment of the district court is affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded where: 1) district court's grant of summary judgment for the defendant on the sexual harassment claim against the supervisor is vacated and remanded as it cannot be ruled as a matter of law that the circumstances of plaintiff's employment did not constitute a hostile work environment; 2) the district court was well within its discretion in finding that plaintiff was not entitled to the benefit of equitable estoppel in her harassment claim against her co-worker; 3) it would be impossible for a rational jury to conclude that the supervisor's actions from October 2004 through mid-May 2005, which were taken in ignorance of plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint against the co-worker, were motivated by his desire to retaliate against her for those complaints; and 4) it would not be reasonable for a jury to conclude that the supervisor's actions were motivated by plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint against him.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/06/2010
• Published 10/06/2010

Judges

• LIPEZ

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Vilma M. Dapena-Rodríguez, Rebecca E. Ausprung