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The $100 million gender discrimination case against Morrison & Foerster is still marching forward, and in the latest scuffle the parties are clashing over discovery. As you may recall, a total of seven plaintiffs have come forward alleging there’s a “mommy track” at the firm that they were placed on after they took maternity leave, and the firm is fighting back against the allegations.
According to reporting by Law.com, MoFo is seeking discovery from the current employers of one of the plaintiffs — Jane Doe 4. MoFo has already tried, and failed, to bring sanctions against this plaintiff. The firm argued Doe 4 had signed a release of all claims against the firm when she negotiated a severance package from the firm. But the court found plaintiffs had sufficiently pleaded Doe 4 signed the agreement under economic duress since she was eight months pregnant when she was fired from the firm. Now the Biglaw giant says it needs discovery from her current law firm to “probe whether her performance is also viewed as subpar at her current law firm” and that Doe 4’s retaliation claim “put her job applications directly at issue.”
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The plaintiffs… do not agree with that position. Deborah Marcuse, partner at Stanford Heisler representing Doe 4, wrote in a letter brief to the magistrate judge:
“[A] plaintiff does not expose her current job record to carte blanche scrutiny merely by filing suit against her prior employer.”
“Nothing here warrants forcing Jane Doe 4’s current employer into this litigation as an unwilling participant with tangible discovery burdens,” Marcuse wrote. “MoFo should not be able to launch such a damaging assault on Plaintiff’s job security and career prospects, and fire off a warning to similarly-situated employees, on such a slender reed.”
As always, we’ll be following this case closely.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).