Friday, July 11, 2008

Alleged Biased Remarks By Clinic Director Are Part of Lawsuit

In Gordon v. Dalrymple, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51863 (D NV, July 8, 2008), a Nevada federal district court dismissed a free exercise and First Amendment retaliation claim by Allan Gordon, the former director of a state mental health clinic, who alleged he had been fired because of remarks he allegedly made critical of Christians. The court found that Gordon's dismissal resulted, instead, from four sexual harassment complaints against him. However the court allowed Gordon to move to trial on his defamation claim against staff psychologist Ronald Dalrymple who had written a complaint letter alleging, among other things, that Gordon created a hostile work environment by slandering Christians and that Gordon had a narcissistic personality disorder. An internal investigation found no evidence that Gordon had discriminated against Christians.