The district did not err in handling a jury question during deliberations or in its instructions to the jury.
Affirming a jury verdict finding in favor of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts, on the race and religious discrimination claims of two Black firefighters, the First Circuit found the district court did not, as the firefighters argued, make multiple errors that misled and misinformed the jury. Specifically, the district court did not err when it failed to answer a question posed by the jury during deliberations or when it failed to provide certain limiting instructions. Nor did it improperly instruct the jury on employer liability under state law for harassment committed by supervisors (Savage v. City of Springfield, No. 24-1720 (1st Cir. Sept. 16, 2026)).
The firefighters, one a Muslim and the other a Jehovah’s Witness, alleged that they faced unrelenting harassment by supervisors and coworkers because of their race and religion. According to one of the plaintiffs, he was one of two firefighters who sat for a promotional exam for the position of deputy fire chief in 2014. Because the other, a white resident of a different city, was not eligible to apply for the position, he was the only applicant. Three months later, however, the fire commissioner requested that the exam be invalidated.
The other firefighter also claimed he was passed over for a promotion to captain in favor of a white nonresident who was not required to fulfill certain civil service...
Police have referred the bereaved family members of the late Kim Sae-ron, whom actor Kim Soo-hyun, 38, accused, to the Prosecution Service. Seoul Gangnam Police Station announced on the 26th that ...