Alabama Law Firm Defeats Ex-Lawyer’s Bias, Sex Harassment Claims

A female attorney lacked triable evidence that an Alabama personal injury firm discriminated against her because she’s a woman, including when it restructured and assigned her to its nonlitigation team.

Jennifer Whitworth was too late with her claims that founder Steven Mezrano sexually harassed her during her more than 2.5 years with Mezrano Law Firm PC, the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama said. According to Whitworth, the harassment included Mezrano recounting the college sexual exploits of himself and a friend, unwanted embraces, and trying to get her to share a hotel room on a business trip.

The ruling Monday shows employees risk losing hostile environment claims if they delay in asserting their rights. The continuing violation doctrine can save otherwise untimely claims that are part of a pattern of harassment, but it’s only triggered once at least one piece of the pattern is raised in time.

The most recent alleged harassment that Whitworth cited occurred more than one year before she filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Judge R. David Proctor said. That was well outside the 180-day period set by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the judge said.

Whitworth’s sex discrimination claim based on the restructuring failed because she didn’t explain how her move to the nonlitigation team was adverse, Proctor said. Her case load lightened and yet she earned significantly more money. She also testified that her new role was no less prestigious, and there was no evidence that her sex motivated her move, the judge said.

She also claimed her reassignment was retaliation for reporting Mezrano’s harassment. But the restructuring occurred more than one year before her EEOC filing, making that claim untimely, the court said.

And she didn’t show Mezrano knew when he decided to restructure the firm that she had complained about him, Proctor said.

The time that lapsed between when Whitworth reported Mezrano and when she was fired was also too long to prove retaliation, the court said.

Whitworth’s claim based on being excluded from a firm commercial was untimely, Proctor said. She conceded that she lacked evidence supporting her unequal pay claims, he said, declining to retain jurisdiction over her state law invasion of privacy and negligence-based claims.

Haynes & Haynes PC, Cynthia F. Wilkinson of Birmingham, and Heather N. Leonard of Birmingham represented Whitworth. Burr & Forman LLP and Brent L. Crumpton of Birmingham represented the defendants.

The case is Whitworth v. Mezrano, 2023 BL 81183, N.D. Ala., No. 2:20-cv-00756, 3/13/23.