Law and Non-Legal Entitlements: Kate Manne’s Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women

LESLEY WEXLER

Illinois law professor Lesley Wexler comments on philosopher Kate Manne’s recent book, Entitled, in which Mann tackles “privileged men’s sense of entitlement” as a “pervasive social problem with often devastating consequences.” Wexler praises Manne’s work as “illuminating” and calls upon lawyers and law scholars to ask how such entitlements might best and safely be challenged and reallocated, and how new more egalitarian entitlements might be generated and enforced.

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Deloach Marine Services LLC v. Marquette Transportation Co., LLC

Docket: 19-30311

Opinion Date: September 11, 2020

Judge: Stuart Kyle Duncan

Areas of Law: Admiralty & Maritime Law

After two barge towboats collided on the Mississippi River, the district court found the captains of both vessels negligent to varying degrees. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's apportionment of fault, rejecting Marquette's argument that the district court misinterpreted Inland Navigational Rule 14(d) when it held that the VANPORT was under no duty to propose the manner of passage. Because Marquette's arguments regarding Rules 5 through 8 flow from the district court's putative misreading of Rule 14(d), the court rejected these arguments too. Furthermore, the district court's holdings regarding Rules 5 through 8 were made alternatively to its determinations on ordinary negligence. The court further held that the district court did not err in assigning the VANPORT 30 percent of the liability for the collision. Finally, the court remanded to the district court to consider whether prejudgment interest is proper and, if so, in what amount.

Badgerow v. REJ Properties, Inc.

Dockets: 19-30584, 19-30687

Opinion Date: September 11, 2020

Judge: E. Grady Jolly

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Labor & Employment Law

Plaintiff filed suit against her former employer, REJ, alleging claims of hostile work environment, gender discrimination, disparate pay, Title VII and Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law retaliation, 42 U.S.C. 1985 conspiracy, and breach of contract. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment on plaintiff's disparate pay, hostile work environment, and breach of contract claims. The court also affirmed the district court's denial of attorney's fees. However, the court held that plaintiff has satisfied her burden under the McDonnell Douglas framework to show that whether her termination was pretext for unlawful retaliation remains a disputed issue of fact that must be determined by the appropriate fact finder. Therefore, the court reversed and vacated the district court's grant of summary judgment on plaintiff's Title VII retaliation claim.

United States v. Avalos-Sanchez

Docket: 19-40668

Opinion Date: September 11, 2020

Judge: Don R. Willett

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for interference with interstate commerce by robbery, in violation of the Hobbs Act. The court held that the district court had a sufficient factual basis for accepting the guilty plea and thus the district court committed no error, plain or otherwise. In this case, the entire record unmistakably demonstrates that defendant participated in the June 6 robbery with the intent to obtain controlled substances. The court also held that there is no error, much less plain error, in the district court's acceptance of defendant's guilty plea. The district court explained the maximum punishment, the elements of the Hobbs Act charge, the evidence proving a violation of the Hobbs Act, defendant's trial rights, and the consequences of a guilty plea.