Abuse of Discretion Evidentiary Ruling.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: James Henderson v. Robert Wilkie

Case No.: 19-1369

Officials: SYKES, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Abuse of Discretion Evidentiary Ruling

James Henderson filed this employment discrimination action against the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs ("VA"). Mr. Henderson, who is African American, alleged race and age discrimination and retaliation claims, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. 621. The district court granted summary judgment to the VA in December 2016. Mr. Henderson appealed, and, in December 2017, a panel of this court vacated and remanded for further proceedings. The panel held that, on the record before it, there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the VA's explanations for not selecting Mr. Henderson for a criminal investigator position were pretext for racial discrimination. See Henderson v. Shulkin, 720 Fed. App'x 776, 786 (7th Cir. 2017).

On remand, the parties consented to proceed before a magistrate judge. Mr. Henderson's race discrimination claim was tried by a jury in...