Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 845926.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 845926.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/845926.pdf ↗

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Both positions were filled by male doctors.

B

On November 16, 2020, Dr. Litvack sued UW seeking damages and alleging

discrimination and retaliation in violation of the WLAD and the Equal Pay and

Opportunities Act (EPOA). The parties cross moved for summary judgment. Dr. Litvack

sought partial summary judgment and dismissal of UW’s affirmative defenses of

mitigation and bona fide job-related factors consistent with business necessity. UW

sought summary judgment and dismissal of all of Dr. Litvack’s claims.

The trial court denied UW’s motion as to the WLAD retaliation claim. The court

granted UW’s motion as to the WLAD discrimination claim and the EPOA discrimination

claim, dismissing both. The court granted Dr. Litvack’s motion dismissing the

affirmative defense for failure to mitigate, and denied her motion on the bona fide job-

related factors.

At trial, the jury found for UW and rejected Dr. Litvack’s WLAD retaliation claim.

Dr. Litvack appeals the summary judgment dismissal of the WLAD discrimination

claim. Dr. Litvack does not appeal the jury verdict rejecting her WLAD retaliation claim.

II

Dr. Litvack argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment and

dismissing her claims for discrimination under the WLAD. Specifically, Dr. Litvack

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.

No. 84592-6-I/14

argues that numerous fact questions related to the third prong of the McDonnell

Douglas framework preclude summary judgment. We agree.

We review a trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Mikkelsen v. Pub.

Util. Dist. No. 1 of Kittitas County, 189 Wn.2d 516, 526, 404 P.3d 464 (2017). Summary

judgment is properly granted when the pleadings, affidavits, depositions, and