Court Orders EEOC To Pay Defendants’ Attorney’s Fees For “Baseless, Unreasonable and Frivolous” Lawsuit

On March 18, 2015, in EEOC v. Global Horizons, Inc., et al., Case No. 2:11-CV-03045, Judge Edward F. Shea of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington ordered the EEOC to pay defendants Green Acre Farms, Inc. and Valley Fruit Orchards, LLC (collectively “Grower Defendants”) their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in defending against the EEOC’s meritless lawsuit. Judge Shea’s scathing opinion chastised the EEOC for: (1) failing to conduct an adequate investigation to ensure that Title VII claims could reasonably be brought against the Grower Defendants; (2) pursuing a frivolous theory of joint-employer liability; (3) seeking frivolous remedies; and (4) disregarding the need to have a factual basis to assert a plausible basis for relief under Title VII against the Grower Defendants.

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