Dr. Janet I. Merrill v. Southern Methodist University

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that the focus of when a Title VII claim accrues is not on the date the victim first perceives a discriminatory motive caused an act, but the date of the act itself
• rejecting theory that statute of limitations should begin to run when employee discovers discriminatory motive, rather than actual date of act itself
• stating that the limitations period in Title VII cases starts to run on the date when the plaintiff knows or reasonably should know that the discriminatory act has occurred, not on the date the victim first perceived that a discriminatory motive caused the act
• “[The leading case on this subject] emphasizes that the limitations period starts running on the date the discriminatory act occurs.”
• “This Circuit has … consistently focused on the date that plaintiff knew of the discriminatory act.” (emphasis in original)
• limitations period in Title VII 13 cases commences to run on date when plaintiff knows or reasonably should know that discriminatory act has occurred, not on date victim first perceived that discriminatory motive caused act

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).