Leigh Cline v. Catholic Diocese of Toledo

Leigh Cline (plaintiff) was employed as a teacher at St. Paul Elementary School (defendant), which was within the Catholic Diocese of Toledo (defendant). As part of her employment, Cline entered a teacher-minister contract, which contained the basic terms of her one-year employment. Cline also entered an affirmations for employment in the Diocese of Toledo contract, which required every employee to believe in and act in accordance with the Catholic Church. In February 1996, Cline married. Shortly after her marriage, Cline became visibly pregnant, which led Father Herbert J. Willman (defendant), who oversaw the parish schools, to conclude that Cline had participated in premarital sex. Although Cline’s teaching abilities had been praised by school officials and she performed well on her performance evaluations, Willman informed Cline that her contract would not be renewed for the following school year. Willman issued Cline a letter, in which he stated that by having premarital sex, Cline had failed to abide by the teachings of the Catholic Church. In response, Cline filed a Title VII action against St. Paul Elementary School, the Catholic Diocese of Toledo, the Catholic Diocesan School of Toledo (defendant), and Willman (collectively, the officials) in federal district court. Cline argued that the officials had engaged in pregnancy discrimination. In support, Cline presented evidence that the officials failed to apply the premarital-sex policy in a gender-neutral manner because male teachers were never investigated for policy violations. The officials conceded that they had concluded Cline had violated the premarital-sex policy solely because of her pregnancy. The district court granted summary judgment for the officials. Cline appealed.