Harrington v. Vandalia-Butler Board of Education
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
649 F.2d 434 (1981)
Jeanne Harrington (plaintiff) won a Title VII employment discrimination judgment and compensatory damages against the Vandalia-Butler Board of Education (defendant), but the Sixth Circuit, while affirming the discrimination finding, reversed the damages award because Title VII does not authorize compensatory damages. While her appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided Monell v. Department of Social Services, overruling precedent and making municipalities newly liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a statute that does allow compensatory damages. Harrington then filed a new suit against the same Board under § 1983 based on the same underlying discriminatory acts; the Board moved for summary judgment on res judicata grounds, the district court agreed, and Harrington appealed.
Whether an intervening change in the law that makes a more favorable legal theory newly viable prevents the application of res judicata to bar a second suit over the same underlying conduct.