A federal court has scrapped a 2010 decision in an employment discrimination appeal and plans to reopen the case after The Center for Public Integrity uncovered a conflict of interest by one of its judges.

Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Susan Black vacated the original opinion in the case involving Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. last week and ordered it be reconsidered by a new panel of judges.

Black tossed the decision because 11th Circuit Judge Frank Hull bought up to $15,000 worth of stock in Jacobs several months before ruling in favor of the international construction giant, violating court rules.

The rehearing came as a surprise to Lee Winston, who represented Shirley Brown of Huntsville, Ala., more than three years ago in the complaint against the engineering firm. Brown, who is African-American, sued the firm alleging racial and sexual discrimination.

The April 28 story showed a lack of accountability in the federal court system.

Judges face no formal punishment for breaking theserules.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/...=publici-email