4th Circuit - Employment Law - Discrimination - Burden of Proof A firefighter sought to become a paramedic. The firefighter passed all the required tests and only needed to serve a one year internship to become fully certified to be hired as a paramedic. The city offered the internships on a first come first served basis but how it offered those internships became the crux of this discrimination complaint. The firefighter alleged that the internships were usually offered on a strict first come first served basis, while the city claimed that they were offered on that basis by shift. The city's claim persuaded the court below and on appeal. The firefighter asserted that a Captain had described the policy which the firefighter took to understand was not shift limited, but the firefighter failed to depose the Captain, so at most what the firefighter offered was a hearsay statement that was non-conclusive as to the policy. Sometimes you hope that Plaintiffs' counsel are operating strictly on a contingency, don't you? Lyons v. City of Alexandria (corrected opinion) 201656.P.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/201656.P.pdf> 4th Circuit - Condemnation- substitute facilities doctrine This case involves a foray into the rules regulating federal condemnations. The case involves the need to expand Arlington Cemetery and land owned by Arlington County. The government sought to condemn the land (mostly streets) and sought to offer substitute facilities as just compensation as allowed by law. The county asserted with expert testimony that one parcel was a potentially very valuable piece of land and that it could close the road and sell the land for development and receive far more than the government was offering. The lower court resolved the case on summary judgment rejecting the county's view but the panel reversed. Instead, the panel concluded that the court at the summary judgment stage had made factual decisions based on disputed facts. The case offers quite a bit of information on the regulatory framework for federal takings of local government property and can serve as a primer for those defending those actions. Congratulations to Arlington County for a great win. The victory may be limited however, as the court seems to suggest that had the court acted under Rule 71.1 rather than Rule 56 the result would favor the federal government. USA vs. 8.929 ACRES OF LAND IN ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA 211352.P.pdf (uscourts.gov)<https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/211352.P.pdf> Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Of Counsel P: (202) 466-5424 x7110 M: (240) 876-6790 D: (202) 742-1016 [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [logo]<https://imla.org/> 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! IMLA's 2022 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/seminars/>, April 8-11, 2022 in Washington, D.C.! IMLA's 2022 Annual<https://imla.org/annual-conference/> Conference, October 19-23, 2022 in Portland, OR! Check out our On-Demand webinar library<https://netforum.avectra.com/eweb/shopping/shopping.aspx?site=imla&webcode=shopping&cart=0&shopsearchCat=Merchandise&productCat=Webinar> with 100+ webinars at your fingertips.