Partner Thomas Gebler and Associate Emily Mahler Prevail on Motion to Dismiss Civil Rights Claim in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Partner Thomas Gebler and Associate Emily Mahler successfully obtained dismissal of all claims in a Civil Rights lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against a local municipality and its pension plan. Plaintiff, a retired employee of the municipality, brought a lawsuit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that she was denied equal protection of the laws when she was improperly classified as a part-time employee for a period of her employment on the basis of her gender, which resulted in her not receiving credit for several years of employment for the purposes of the calculation of her pension benefit upon retirement. Attorneys Gebler and Mahler filed a motion to dismiss on the basis that the applicable two-year statute of limitations barred Plaintiff’s claims where her part-time employment with the municipality ended nearly two decades prior to her bringing the lawsuit. Following a period of limited discovery on the statute of limitations issue, the Court granted the motion and dismissed the case against the municipality with prejudice. The Court concluded that the evidence demonstrated that Plaintiff knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, of the harm resulting from the allegedly improper classification more than two years prior to her commencement of the lawsuit.