Sherita Ann Cooks v. The City of Shreveport through its Mayor, Ollie Tyle, The Shreveport Fire Department Chief, Edwin Scott Wolverton, Chief of Communications, Kathy Owens Rushworth, Chief of Communications, Kim LaShun Tolliver

Summary

The Louisiana Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment dismissing Sherita Cooks's claims against the City of Shreveport and related defendants. The court held that Cooks failed to establish constructive termination, discipline, reprisal, or a threat of reprisal under Louisiana's whistleblower statutes, and that the outstanding discovery concerning an alleged secret fund was immaterial to that issue.

Holdings

1. Cooks failed to establish a prima facie case of constructive termination or otherwise produce evidence that the public employer subjected her to discipline, reprisal, or a threat of discipline or reprisal. The evidence concerning an employee-assistance-program scheduling dispute, the prior employees' departures, the sabbatical, and the instruction to stop pursuing the fund matter did not show that the employer intentionally and deliberately created working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person would feel compelled to resign.
2. The outstanding discovery concerning the International CAD Consortium fund did not preclude summary judgment because the details of the fund were immaterial to whether Cooks could prove constructive termination, discipline, reprisal, or a threat thereof.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment on Cooks's whistleblower claims because she failed to produce evidence of constructive termination, discipline, reprisal, or a threat thereof.
2. Whether summary judgment was premature because Cooks had outstanding discovery concerning the alleged International CAD Consortium fund.

Disposition

affirmed