MacArthur v. University of Texas Health Center at Tyler

Cassandra MacArthur (plaintiff) sued the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler and two of her co-workers, Painter and Wilson, for retaliation under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, sex discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although all of the claims were included in the pretrial order, at trial MacArthur only presented evidence on the First Amendment retaliation, sex discrimination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. MacArthur offered no evidence or arguments related to the Title VII claim, and MacArthur failed to object when the trial court judge did not instruct the jury on the claim. MacArthur did object to the judge’s failure to instruct the jury on her Equal Protection claim, but was overruled. The jury returned a verdict of $65,000 in MacArthur’s favor against Painter on the intentional infliction of emotion distress claim only, and all other claims were dismissed. MacArthur moved for a new trial, which was denied. MacArthur appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, challenging the dismissal of the First Amendment retaliation and sex discrimination claims. In the brief, however, MacArthur argued only that the district court erred with respect to the Title VII claims. Painter cross-appealed the verdict against him.