Allison V. Housing Authority

Irene Allison sued the Housing Authority of the City of Seattle (hereinafter Housing Authority), claiming, among other things, that the Housing Authority had retaliated against her for filing an age discrimination complaint when she was released in a reduction in force. In a special verdict form, a  jury found that the Housing Authority had discriminated and/or retaliated against Allison when she was laid off. The Housing Authority appealed to the Court of Appeals, claiming that the jury instruction on proximate causation for a retaliation claim was erroneous. That jury instruction required Ms. Allison to show that her discharge was motivated "to any degree by retaliation." On appeal, the Washington State Court of Appeals Division One reversed and remanded the case, holding that the jury instruction should have required Allison to show that, but for filing a discrimination complaint, she would not have been discharged. The primary issue in this appeal is what the standard of causation should be in a claim alleging retaliation for filing an age discrimination claim. We decline to adopt either the "but for" standard advanced by the Court of Appeals or the "to any degree" standard used by the trial court. Instead, we adopt an intermediate standard for causation, a "substantial factor" approach, and remand this case to the trial court.