Lady Justice
PENSACOLA, Fla. – An attorney who was fired by a Pensacola-area insurance defense law firm has sued her former employer, alleging “acts of discrimination and retaliation” by its upper management.
Plaintiff Teresa Cummings filed her 19-page complaint February 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division.
Cummings, a Pensacola resident and civil trial attorney, alleges Dutton Law Group PA terminated her because she “opposed and reported sexual harassment in the workplace” – not due to her own performance or lack thereof.
“Defendant’s proffered reasons for terminating Plaintiff – alleged low billing and case-handling issues – are pretextual in light of (a) the flat-fee nature of her national-insurer work, (b) the lack of consistent assistant support after Ms. Corion’s departure, (c) internal recognition of Plaintiff’s value in developing state work and (d) the continued employment of another Pensacola attorney accused of similar billing deficiencies for approximately eight (8) months after Plaintiff’s termination,” her complaint states.
According to her lawsuit, Dutton offers comprehensive insurance coverage and defense services, including policy analysis and interpretation and defense against claim litigation. The firm, which has various locations in Florida, also specializes in the handling and litigation of extra-contractual or bad faith issues.
Cummings claims she had not been issued any prior written discipline, placed on a performance improvement plan, or warned that her job was in jeopardy, and her July 2024 billing met the firm’s stated expectations – leading up to her termination effective Aug. 15, 2024.
The firm’s president, Scott Dutton, “responded with hostility” when he learned of Cummings’ report of sexual harassment, the lawsuit alleges – so much so that he threatened to terminate Managing Attorney Christopher Dutton for merely forwarding Cummings’ complaint.
Cummings claims her legal assistant, Dena Corion, resigned in April 2024, citing concerns of a hostile workplace at the firm’s Tampa office. Corion allegedly told Cummings that Corion’s friend and co‐worker, Ryann Awad, was sexually harassed by Christopher Leifer, the firm’s director of operations.
Cummings’ report was made on Aug. 5, 2024.
According to her lawsuit, Scott Dutton “intensified his demands” that Cummings be terminated almost immediately after filing her complaint.
“The sequence of events – Leifer’s central role in staffing and performance metrics under a cloud of sexual‐harassment allegations, Plaintiff’s protected report of his harassment on or about August 5, 2024, Scott Dutton’s hostile reaction and threat to fire the manager who relayed that report and Scott Dutton’s directive that Plaintiff’s termination ‘happens today’ immediately thereafter – demonstrates that Plaintiff’s protected activity, and not mere performance concerns, was the but‐for cause of her discharge on August 15, 2024,” the lawsuit claims.
Cummings seeks an order from the federal court directing the firm to place her in the position she would have occupied but for their treatment of her.
She also seeks an order to make her whole for all earnings she would have received, including past and future wages, pension, and other lost benefits.
In addition, she seeks front pay in lieu of reinstatement, compensatory damages, and attorney’s fees.
According to her filing, Cummings filed a charge of discrimination with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Jan. 15, 2025. She later received a notice of right to sue letter from the EEOC on Nov. 17, 2025.
The Law Offices of Clayton M. Connors PLLC in Pensacola is representing Cummings in the action.
