Plaintiff has filed and served their Complaint, and the Defendant has either filed their Answer, or made a motion to dismiss which the Court has denied. At this point, we enter the most involved, costly, and time-consuming stage of litigation: Discovery (“Disclosure” in New York practice). (If this were a cross-country road trip from New…
Read More Anatomy of a Lawsuit, Part 4: Discovery / DisclosureNow that the papers have been appropriately served, the ball shifts to the defendant(s), who have several options. Generally, this boils down to 3 options: (1) default; (2) submit an answer; or (3) make a motion to dismiss. Default Where a defendant defaults – i.e., fails to submit an answer or responsive pleading , the…
Read More Anatomy of a Lawsuit, Part 3: Defendant’s Move – Default, Answer, Motion to DismissNow that the plaintiff has filed the Summons and Complaint (or, if in federal court, filed the Complaint and received the Summons issued by the court), they must “serve” these documents on the defendant(s). There are highly detailed and technical rules governing this process (see, e.g., FRCP 4; CPLR Article 3) which is beyond the…
Read More Anatomy of a Lawsuit, Part 2: Service of ProcessEvery war begins with a first shot. In the context of litigation, that first shot is the timely filing of a complaint in an appropriate court – i.e., one that has both “subject matter jurisdiction” over the dispute and “personal jurisdiction” over the defendant(s). The one doing the filing is the “plaintiff” (who is comPLAINing…
Read More Anatomy of a Lawsuit, Part 1: The Summons & ComplaintThe anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law prohibit (inter alia) discrimination based on “national origin.” See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e–2(a)(1). The regulations flesh out this aspect of Title VII as follows: The Commission defines…
Read More “National Origin” Discrimination Under Title VII Etc.Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade and jettisoned the federal constitutional right to abortion, there has been an uptick in discussions over the so-called “right to travel” between/among United States states. Specifically, the discussion has centered on the issue as it pertains to…
Read More The Constitutional Right to TravelIf you are an employee and subjected to sexual harassment by a customer or client of your employer, may you sue your employer? In a relatively recent case, Swiderski v. Urban Outfitters, 2017 WL 6502221 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), the court explained: With respect to customer harassment [under the New York City Human Rights Law], it is…
Read More Sexual Harassment by Customers and ClientsTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e, is a comprehensive federal anti-discrimination statute that, inter alia, prohibits discrimination “because of” one’s race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, as well as retaliation for engaging in certain “protected activity.” But who does the statute protect, specifically?[1]Other laws specifically extend their protections…
Read More Am I an “Employee” for Purposes of Title VII?Workplace harassment occurs in a variety of forms and contexts; it is impossible to identify all of the factual permutations that might give rise to an actionable employment discrimination/hostile work environment claim. One form in which harassment, or “hostile work environment”, claims arise is when the victim/plaintiff is directly targeted – e.g., misogynistic or racial comments made…
Read More “Second-Hand” HarassmentThe purpose of a “demand letter” – the proverbial “shot across the bow” – in legal matters generally and employment discrimination matters specifically is, in sum, to (1) alert the target (in an employment discrimination case, the employer) to the existence of a legal issue, (2) express an interest in attempting to resolve it (typically…
Read More The Employment Discrimination Demand Letter