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Texas 13th Court of Appeals (Corpus Christi-Edinburg)
ISD Wins Partial Dismissal of Lawsuit
Filed by Fired School District Police Officer
Ruling: Some of the claims made by a fired ISD police officer are dismissed and other claims must go back to the trial judge for further proceedings. Donna ISD v. Cynthia Castillo, No. 13-19-00395-CV. Issued Aug. 13.
Castillo (an Hispanic female) claimed that a lengthy list of retaliatory and harassing incidents to which she had been subjected — that ended with her being fired — resulted from illegal discrimination and retaliation for her filing a complaint with higher ups in the district.
Castillo’s specific complaint was that a male DISD police sergeant had made her feel uncomfortable when he tickled the palm of her hand with his fingers while they were shaking hands. DISD appealed to the Thirteenth Court after the trial judge refused to dismiss the suit.
A three-member Thirteenth Court panel, in this decision, discussed at length the claims made by Castillo and the counterarguments made by DISD. In brief, the justices sided with DISD in dismissing the portion of Castillo’s claim of “sex discrimination” and “sexual harassment/hostile work environment.”
The justices refused to dismiss, and sent back to the trial judge for further proceedings, claims by Castillo alleging age discrimination and retaliation based on her filing grievances with the Texas Workforce Commission.