The Eastern District of Texas recently granted summary judgment dismissing claims of age and national origin discrimination in favor of Mayer LLP client BenQ America Corp. The Plaintiff alleged BenQ terminated and replaced him with a younger employee of Asian descent in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

In a 37-page order signed by Judge Robert W. Schroeder III, the Court held that none of the evidence on record was sufficient to find that Plaintiff was replaced by someone outside of his protected classes upon termination. Additionally, the Judge opined that the uncontroverted summary judgment evidence showed Plaintiff failed to identify a proper comparator who drew dissimilar employment decisions. The Court also concluded that Plaintiff’s poor sales results was a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for his termination.

Lastly, when considering whether BenQ’s termination decision was pretextual, Judge Schroeder carefully analyzed all of Plaintiff’s arguments against prevailing case law in the light most favorable to Plaintiff and concluded that he failed to meet his burden of persuasion. “At most, [Plaintiff] has presented his own subjective beliefs along with a mere scintilla of evidence to show pretext.”

Our client was represented by partner Kunal Shah, who briefed and orally argued the motion for summary judgment.

The case is McNeill v. BenQ America Corp.; 4-20-cv-00090-RWS.