Supreme Court Declines to Rule in Ageism Case

The Supreme Court bounced an age-discrimination case back to district court for clarification today without making a ruling, the New York Times reports. The district court had ruled that other Sprint employees could not testify in the case of Ellen Mendelsohn, who alleges Sprint fired her because of her age. She was 51 at the time.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals took issue with the district court’s decision not to admit the evidence and ordered a new trial. The Supreme Court’s ruling today found the co-workers’ testimony “neither per se admissible nor per se inadmissible.” The decision said district courts are usually better fit than appellate courts to evaluate details of a particular case. (More US Supreme Court stories.)