Joe, Joey, Joe-Baby, Sexist: Where’s Your Imposter Syndrome?

JOANNA L. GROSSMAN

SMU Dedman School of Law professor Joanna L. Grossman responds to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing soon-to-be First Lady Jill Biden for using the academic title she earned. Professor Grossman dissects the op-ed, penned by a retired lecturer at Northwestern University, and explains the deep and pervasive sexism behind it.

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Thurman v. Medical Transportation Management, Inc.

Docket: 19-60596

Opinion Date: December 15, 2020

Judge: James C. Ho

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law

Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983 alleging that MTM's failure to pick him up violated his purported right to non-emergency medical transportation under various federal regulatory and statutory Medicaid provisions. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims, joining its sister circuits in holding that a section 1983 claim may not be brought to enforce an administrative regulation. The court explained that this conclusion is consistent with the principle that federal rights are created by Congress, not agencies of the Executive Branch, as the Supreme Court has affirmed on various occasions. The court also held that none of the statutory provisions invoked by plaintiff clearly and unambiguously create a right to non-emergency medical transportation, as established precedents require for a claim under section 1983.

Cohen v. Gilmore

Docket: 19-20152

Opinion Date: December 15, 2020

Judge: James Earl Graves, Jr.

Areas of Law: Real Estate & Property Law

Appellant alleged that appellee played a key role as a strawman purchaser in a fraudulent land transfer where valuable property passed from a limited partnership, A&D, to another limited partnership in appellee's control, TAFI. Before the action was removed to federal court under bankruptcy jurisdiction, a Texas state trial court granted several evidentiary objections to appellant's detriment, dismissed his claims against appellee and TAFI on summary judgment, and expunged a notice of lis pendens that appellant had placed on the property. The Fifth Circuit found that the state trial court abused its discretion in granting the evidentiary objections and granting summary judgment despite there being issues of material fact with respect to all of appellant's claims. The court also found that the controversy surrounding the state court's expungement of the notice of lis pendens is moot because the property at issue was sold to a third party months after the trial court's expungement. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for further proceedings.