Mid-South Grizzlies v. National Football League

How later courts describe this case

• analyzing the sufficiency of the evidence with reference to the McDonnell Douglas format
• employer’s statement that he wanted "new blood” and a “lean and mean team” did not show age discrimination
• a subjective belief of discrimination, no matter how genuine, cannot be the sole basis for a finding of discrimination
• New judge-made rules on limitations are usually not to be applied retroactively to a plaintiff who timely filed his complaint under the then-existing law of limitations
• evidence of discrimination “may take the form of an attempted showing that the reason given by the employer, though facially adequate, was untrue as a matter of fact.”
• “[m]ost courts which have considered the issue agree that filing an affidavit is necessary for the preservation of a Rule 56(f) contention that summary judgment should be delayed pending discovery”
• "Where Rule 56(f) affidavits have been filed ... and the facts are in the possession of the moving party ... [further] discovery should be granted almost as a matter of course.”
• defendant’s statement at plea hearing, at which he pled guilty, that he was satisfied with the representation he had received, carried a strong presumption of verity