Matsumoto-Herrera
Matsumoto-Herrera v. Continental Casualty Co.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Chhabria, J.
SUPPLEMENTAL ORDER RE THE DEFENDANT’S MOTION IN LIMINE NO.
Re: Dkt. No.
In this state law discrimination case brought under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Ginger Matsumoto-Herrera contends that Continental Casualty Company passed her over for an ‘Operations Director' job in favor of a younger, non-disabled candidate by the name of Olga Brody. A year after Brody got the Operations Director job, Continental Casualty fired her for poor performance. Matsumoto-Herrera : wishes to use this evidence at trial in support of her age and disability discrimination claims; Continental Casualty seeks to exclude it on relevance grounds.
As Continental Casualty notes, the Seventh Circuit in Cullen v. Olin Corp., 195 F.3d 317, 323-24 (7th Cir.1999) held, in a federal age discrimination case, that it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to admit evidence that a younger employee performed poorly in a position to which the younger employee was hired over the older plaintiff. Cullen held that the younger employee’s ‘unsatisfactory performance months after the [adverse employment action] had no bearing on management’s state of mind at the time the decision to…