Court Denies Stay Pending Appeal in Gender-Based Hostile Work Environment Case

In Moraetis v. Robert S. Evans et al (NY Sup. Ct. NY Cty. Index 152829/2015) (J. Bannon), a gender discrimination/hostile work environment case, the court declined (under CPLR 5519(c)) to stay the matter pending appeal of an earlier decision denying defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Procedurally, the court noted that “[w]here, as here, there is no automatic right to a stay pending appeal, CPLR 5519(c) governs the matter.”

From the decision:

Accepting the allegations in the complaint as true, which this court must in connection with a motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7), the plaintiff alleged that the discriminatory conduct occurred in New York City, and that the [Edward P. Evans] Foundation [of which the individual defendants were trustees] maintains a business relationship with another entity warranting the aggregation of their workforces for the purposes of determining whether they constitute a single entity employing four or more persons. The complaint thus states causes of action that would subject the defendant to the [New York State and City Human Rights Laws].

The court also held that defendant has not “identified any hardship that it might suffer if compelled to proceed with unlimited discovery pending the determination of the appeal.”

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