Second Circuit -- Briscoe v. City of New Haven

Briscoe v. City of New Haven

In Ricci, the Supreme Court held that a city could not refrain from certifying firefighter exam results from fear of a disparate impact Title VII suit, even thogh certification risked a disparate treatment suit.

Held: (1) The dictum in Ricci  does not shield the city by nonparty preclusion from a disparate impact suit; (2) Crossing the streams of disparate impact statutory law and disparate treatment caselaw would be a really, really bad idea; (3) The one-line dictum is insufficient grounds for a 12(b)(6) dismissal by the lower court.