Court finds for Dallas Housing Authority in reverse discrimination breach of contract suit

Allegations in this high-profile case included breach of contract, racial discrimination, and substantive and procedural due process claims. Jerry Killingsworth, former City of Dallas Housing Manager, alleged that Dallas Housing Authority broke a binding contract to hire him as the President and CEO.

After receiving the disputed contract, Killingsworth resigned from his position with the City of Dallas in anticipation of his soon-to-be new employment. But the plaintiff argued the Dallas Housing Authority then “yielded to political pressure” to keep the existing African American CEO. The plaintiff alleged he was discriminated against because he is white.

After the trial court granted summary judgment for the defendant, the Dallas Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas considered the five issues raised by Killingsworth, and upheld summary judgment in favor of the Dallas Housing Authority.

The Court concluded that “the trial court properly granted summary judgment for the DHA on Killingsworth’s claims for breach of contract, violations of his procedural and substantive due process rights…” The Court of Appeals found that Killingsworth contract was invalid, despite the plaintiff’s argument that Board approval for his employment occurred prior to the execution of the agreement.

You can read the full Court of Appeals opinion here.

Strasburger & Price LLP partner Melody Smith and attorneys Jadd F. Masso and Katie Anderson represented the Dallas Housing Authority.

Relevant Resources:

‘Reassessing the Economic Efficiency of Compensatory Damages for Breach of Contract’, by Daniel A Farber, Berkeley Law

EmployStats employment research and breach of contract analyses

Litigation Eocnomics case examples: breach of contract