Lurie v. Mid-Atl. Permanente Med. Group (Summary)

AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT

Lurie v. Mid-Atl. Permanente Med. Group, Civil Action No. 06-01386 (D. D.C. Aug. 9, 2010)

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in a lawsuit brought by a surgeon against his former employer, granted an employer’s motion for summary judgment on the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"), breach of contract and tortious interference claims, among others.

A surgeon, after being terminated by his employer for disciplinary issues and falsifying time sheets, brought a lawsuit alleging violations under the ADEA, and also brought breach of contract and tortious interference claims, alleging that he was terminated unlawfully.

The court granted summary judgment for the employer on the ADEA claim because the surgeon failed to provide evidence that the employer’s reasons for firing him were a pretext for age discrimination or that "but for" the surgeon’s age, he would not have been fired. Also, the court also granted summary judgment on the surgeon’s breach of contract claim holding that the employer retained the right to terminate the surgeon and did not breach the contract when the surgeon was fired. The court granted summary judgment on the tortious interference claim because the surgeon suffered no damages and the relationships the surgeon established with patients while working for the employer were not independent economic relationships with which the employer may interfere, since the patients were also the employer’s patients.