Page:Taylor-Travis v. Jackson State University (17-60856) (2021) Opinion.pdf/7

 management of funds did not give Jackson State cause to terminate her employment.

Jackson State argues that, at a minimum, it should be granted a new trial on Taylor’s breach of contract claim. Jackson State argues that the district court erroneously excluded a proposed jury instruction and abused its discretion in its overall handling of the case.

Jackson State proposed the following jury instruction: “In deciding whether Jackson State was justified in its decision to terminate Plaintiff, you may not consider Plaintiff’s length of employment or Jackson State’s failure to discover Plaintiff’s misconduct sooner. You also must not consider whether Jackson State has tolerated similar misconduct by other employees.”

This court reviews a refusal to provide a requested jury instruction for abuse of discretion. “[T]he district court’s refusal to give a requested jury instruction constitutes reversible error ‘only if the instruction 1) was a substantially correct statement of law, 2) was not substantially covered in the charge as a whole, and 3) concerned an important point in the trial such that the failure to instruct the jury on the issue seriously impaired the [party’s] ability to present a given [claim].’”

The district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to give Jackson State’s proposed instruction because it was not a substantially correct statement of law. Jackson State argues that a 1990 Mississippi Supreme Court case, Hoffman v. Board of Trustees, Eastern Mississippi Junior College,