An age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Pepperdine University finance instructor who seeks more than $5 million, alleging she was wrongfully terminated in 2024, should be dismissed, university attorneys argue in new court papers.
Sheila Moore was hired in 2010 and 13 years later the university cut her hours, salary and benefits, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court suit, which additionally says she was terminated in December 2024. All of the adverse actions were related to the plaintiff’s age, the suit alleges.
Moore’s suit also seeks punitive damages and Pepperdine attorneys also contend that is improper in their pleadings filed April 2 with Judge Nicholas F. Daum in advance of a July 9 hearing. The defense lawyers say Moore, now 79, was let go due to a downturn in business school enrollments after the pandemic.
“Fewer people chose to pursue business degrees in uncertain economic times and international students grew wary of shifting political winds,” the university lawyers write in their court papers. “Consequently, like many other schools across the country, the business school experienced a precipitous drop (of) 50 percent over just three years between 2021 and 2024.”
Moore’s “bald assertion that the business school made decisions based on her age is unsupported speculation,” according to the Pepperdine attorneys’ court papers, which further state that Moore admits that she never heard her age discussed by anyone at the business school.
Other faculty members ranging in age from 41 to 74 also received revised contracts when Moore did and many other full-time faculty members ages 40 to 77 also became part-time adjuncts like Moore because there were not enough classes to support their continued full-time employment, Pepperdine lawyers further contend in their pleadings.
Moore cannot show any evidence of malice oppression directed toward her in the decision to terminate her, the defense lawyers further state in their court papers asking that her bid for punitive damages be eliminated.
“Rather, the evidence points to good-faith decisions by faculty members charged with the unenviable task of assigning increasingly scarce teaching opportunities to their colleagues,” according to the Pepperdine attorneys’ court papers.
But in her lawsuit filed in January 2025, Moore contends Pepperdine replaced her with “one or more significantly younger employees.”
Moore has incurred medical expenses and income losses in addition to suffering emotional distress since losing her job, the suit states.