Cooley Law School avoids trial on discrimination claim by a technicality

In Buck v. Thomas M. Cooley Law School, the plaintiff student attempted to pursue a discrimination claim against the school.  This was her second shot at litigation, with the parties having resolved a prior claim on its merits.  In essence, Buck claimed that Cooley was continuing its wrongful pattern of conduct and she alleged new specific claims that occurred after her original complaint was filed, but before it was resolved. 

The Sixth Circuit rejected Buck's new litigation, finding that she was obligated to seek permission to file a Supplemental Complaint in the original suit:  despite the fact that the new allegations were never litigated in the previous case, Buck's agreement to resolve the original litigation had the effect of barring these post-complaint allegations.