Judicial Estoppel, Title VII, and Bankruptcy

Interesting recent case out of the Middle District of Alabama concerning whether an individual worker should be judicially estopped from proceeding with her gender discrimination and retaliation claim under Title VII because she failed to list her pending Title VII claim as a potential asset for purposes of her Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization plan.

According to BNA's Fair Employment Practices Cases (Volume 96, No. 22, Dec. 26, 2005):

[The] doctrine of judicial estoppel does not bar employee from proceeding on her Title VII claims, even though she failed to disclose them as potential assets in Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition, where her termination and bulk of sexual harassment that she alleges occurred after she filed petition, failure to disclose was not intentional and did not benefit her, she dismissed petition before filing suit, she did not receive discharge of debts, and automatic stay is not benefit that threatens judicial integrity.

The case is Spann v. Dyncorp Technical Services, 2005 WL 2995389, 96 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1823 (M.D.Ala. Nov. 2, 2005).

PS