Case Law Update: Indiana Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Terminated Employee
On September 5, 2018, in the case Shackleford v. D&W Fine Pack, 18A-CT-489, the Indiana Court of Appeals , overturned the trial court that had granted summary judgment in favor of the employer. The trial court had determined that the employee (Shackleford) had failed to produce evidence of a retaliatory motive by the employer (D&W) and that the employee was unable to produce evidence calling into question the reason that the employer had given for terminating the employee. In this case, the employee had filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer because he believed he had been fired for getting injured on the job and seeking to exercise his rights to worker's compensation benefits. Fort Wayne Attorney Nathaniel Hubley On appeal, the employee pointed out that he had presented the trial court with direct and indirect evidence from which a trier-of-fact could infer that the employer's alleged reason for termination was pretext, a lie.