Don R. Hilton, Cross-Appellee v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Cross-Appellant

In this Texas diversity case Plaintiff-Appellant Don R. Hilton’s suit against his employer, Defendant-Appellee, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, a Missouri corporation, claiming employment discrimination against a “handicapped person” under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5221k (Vernon, 1987) 1 (hereafter TCHRA), was dismissed by the district court when it granted Southwestern’s motion for summary judgment. The court held “as a matter of law” that AIDS and its related illnesses “by themselves” are not “handicaps” as defined in TCHRA. The district court…