In a Marchuk v. Faruqi & Faruqi (SDNY 1/28/15), a decision issued in the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Alexandra Marchuk against Faruqi & Faruqi, Juan Monteverde, and others, Southern District of New York Judge Hellerstein addresses defendants’ motion, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50, for Judgment as a Matter of Law (JMOL).
Among other things, the court:
- permitted plaintiff’s Title VII hostile work environment claims to continue, finding that plaintiff offered sufficient evidence of a hostile work environment, as well as sufficient evidence to impute the conduct of the alleged harasser (Juan Monteverde) to her law firm employer;
- dismissed plaintiff’s New York State Human Rights Law hostile work environment claims against the law firm and the firm’s principals (Nadeem and Lubna Faruqi) because there was no evidence that they “encouraged, condoned, or approved of the alleged discriminatory conduct”;
- dismissed plaintiff’s New York City Human Rights Law hostile work environment claims against the Faruqis individually, since there was no evidence that they had the “minimal culpability” (e.g., by participating in the conduct giving rise to a discrimination claim) required by the statute, but permitted those claims to continue against Monteverde and the Faruqi law firm; and
- dismissed plaintiff’s retaliation and defamation claims.