Misty Blanchette Porter, M.D. v. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Rutland, Vermont civil rights lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued on an employment discrimination theory.



Plaintiff sued defendants Dartmouth-Hitchcock2Medical Center et al. principally alleging discriminatory3termination of her employment (a) on account of her disability, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §12101 et seq.,the Rehabilitation5Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., and the laws of Vermont and New Hampshire; and (b) on account of her "whistleblowing"--and other complaints to DHMC of improper, incompetent, and harmful conduct by physicians in her DHMC division--8in violation of New Hampshire law. The district court granted summary judgment9in favor of defendants for lack of proof of causation, concluding principally that although plaintiff had shown a prima facie case with regard to disability and11whistleblowing activity, DHMC adduced sufficient evidence of legitimate business12reasons for the termination of her employment, to wit, the closure of the division in13which she was employed and the unavailability of other suitable positions for her at DHMC; and that plaintiff failed to point to evidence sufficient to permit an inference15that defendants' profferedreasons for her termination were pretext for the alleged1 discrimination.

Judgment in favor of Defendants.



Affirmed in part and reversed in part by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.