On March 27, 2006, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought this suit against Honda of America, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The EEOC's complaint alleged that an individual female employee at Honda had suffered from discriminatory employment practices because of her gender, and that she had subsequently been terminated from employment when she opposed the discriminatory treatment. The complaint was brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In July 2006, the complainant intervened, adding causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 as well as various state law claims and additional discrimination claims under Title VII. The EEOC sought injunctive and monetary relief. The case was assigned to Judge Michael H. Watson.
On June 12, 2006, the underlying plaintiff moved to intervene to join the EEOC as a second plaintiff. On July 6, 2006, the court granted the motion. The intervenor's complaint alleged essentially the same claims as the original plaintiff-gender discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment-and sought the same types of reliefs.
Between June 2006 and May 2008, the parties engaged in discovery. Meanwhile, on January 18, 2008, Honda moved for summary judgment.
On May 21, 2008, the parties reached a settlement agreement. The defendant also requested that the order for settlement be sealed. Judge Watson granted the motion to seal, but did not give a reason except that Honda had shown "good cause." We do not have any information about the contents of the settlement. The same day, Honda moved for enforcement of the settlement agreement, attorney fees, and dismissal of the case. On March 31, 2009, Judge Watson wrote a sealed opinion and order granting this motion to enforce Settlement.
On June 2, 2008, EEOC asked the court to reconsider its previous approval of Honda's request to seal the settlement document. But, on October 27, 2008, Judge Watson denied EEOC's motion, thereby allowing Honda to keep confidential certain settlement terms.
On September 10, 2008, the court denied the defendant's request for summary judgment (motion from January 18, 2008), explaining that the court had ceased work on the defendant's pending motion for summary judgment once the parties settled.
On March 31, 2009, the court ordered a final judgment in favor of Honda and dismissed the case. The court also noted that it would retain jurisdiction to enforce the May 12, 2008 settlement agreement, and to reopen the case for good cause shown if the terms of the settlement agreements are not fulfilled. The case is closed.
Kevin Wilemon - 05/30/2008
Sean Whetstone - 07/09/2018
Lisa Koo - 03/15/2019
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