Haven v. Famous Footwear, 06-516-JHP

Employee filed suit alleging reverse gender discrimination under Title VII. Defendant issued written discovery, and counsel for Employee filed to withdraw from the case. Court stayed case to allow Employee to associate with new counsel, or enter an appearance pro se; Employee did neither. By Employee's failure, Court struck new scheduling conference set for the benefit of Employee's as-yet-to-be-named counsel.

HELD: Employee's failure to associate with new counsel, or otherwise enter appearance pro se (1) frustrated Defendant from obtaining discovery; (2) interfered with the judicial process by causing Court to strike scheduling conference; and (3) undermined authority of Court by failing to abide with various orders. Court found Employee's failure resulted from wilful or inexcusable neglect and therefore the efficacy of lesser sanctions was outweighed by conclusion that anything less than dismissal would result in serial and escalating sanctions.
Opinion

Happy Fourth of July

The following excerpts come from the Supreme Court opinion protecting flag burning as expressive activity under the First Amendment. The case is Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989):

"the constitutionally guaranteed ‘freedom to be intellectually ... diverse or even contrary, and the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order,’ encompass the freedom to express publicly one's opinions about our flag, including those opinions which are defiant or contemptuous. Nor may the government, we have held, compel conduct that would evince respect for the flag. To sustain the compulsory flag salute we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual's right to speak his own mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind." Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 414 (1989) (citations omitted);

"We are tempted to say, in fact, that the flag's deservedly cherished place in our community will be strengthened, not weakened, by our holding today. Our decision is a reaffirmation of the principles of freedom and inclusiveness that the flag best reflects, and of the conviction that our toleration of criticism such as Johnson's is a sign and source of our strength. Indeed, one of the proudest images of our flag, the one immortalized in our own national anthem, is of the bombardment it survived at Fort McHenry. It is the Nation's resilience, not its rigidity, that Texas sees reflected in the flag-and it is that resilience that we reassert today.

The way to preserve the flag's special role is not to punish those who feel differently about these matters. It is to persuade them that they are wrong. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. And, precisely because it is our flag that is involved, one's response to the flag burner may exploit the uniquely persuasive power of the flag itself. We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving one's own, no better way to counter a flag burner's message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by-as one witness here did-according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents." Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 419-420 (1989) (citations omitted) (emphasis added).
Opinion