Mullin v. Temco Machinery, Inc.

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment in ADEA action alleging that defendant fired 56-year-old plaintiff from his fire-truck salesman job on account of his age. Record contained triable issue as to actual reason for plaintiff’s termination where: (1) defendant had recently terminated other 50-year-old salesman and replaced him with younger employee; (2) defendant’s initial explanation that plaintiff, who was top selling salesman, had become too expensive to employ was refuted by fact that defendant replaced him with two younger, inexperienced employees at little cost savings; and (3) record contained factual dispute as to whether alleged incident that defendant claimed was catalyst for termination actually occurred. Record also did not support defendant’s claim that plaintiff was underperforming in terms of sales at time of termination.