Herman Jackson v. Flint Ink North American Corporation, Also Known as Flint Ink Corporation

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Herman Jackson filed a petition for rehearing in this case, maintaining that whether an environment is objectively hostile is always a question of fact for a properly instructed jury. We reject this argument. The question of whether an environment is sufficiently hostile to be actionable is a legal question, and, like any legal question, is a matter for the court to decide. In other words, a showing of some minimal level of harassment is necessary before a case is submissible to a jury. A court of course may decide this issue of submissibility on summary…