Admissibility of EEOC letters of determination - judge's discretion

A recent 3rd Circuit case, Coleman v. Home Depot [pdf] discussed a split in the circuits over whether an EEOC letter of determination can be excluded by the trial judge under FRE 403, which permits otherwise admissible evidence to be excluded because of its prejudicial effect, that it would cause undue delay, is duplicative and other delineated reasons. The 3rd Circuit held that it was within the judge's discretion to do so. Interestingly it cited an early 5th Circuit case as one that arguably provided less discretion to the trial judge. That is not the case, as the 5th Circuit's subsequent view is that the determination of admissibility is within the Court's discretion. Cortes v. Maxus.