Settlement Agreements – Page 2

May 24, 2018 by mjpospis

Court Declines to Adopt “Celebrity Exception” to Public Access to Settlement Agreement in Age Discrimination, Wage Lawsuit Against Busta Rhymes

Celebrities – they’re just like us! That is one take-away from a recent Eastern District of New York decision, Jones v. Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr., a/k/a Busta Rhymes et al, 16-cv-2194, 2018 WL 2227990 (E.D.N.Y. May 14, 2018) (M.J. Levy). There, plaintiff sued Busta Rhymes and Starbus LLC, alleging “that, while employed by defendants as [Busta]’s…

Personal Injury Release Held Broad Enough to Cover Employment Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and Retaliation Claims

In Gracia v. City of NY, 16-CV-7329, 2017 WL 4286319 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 26, 2017) (J. Caproni), the court held that a release signed by plaintiff – a female NYPD officer – to resolve a personal injury slip-and-fall case was broad enough to encompass claims for gender discrimination sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and retaliation. In…

Court Holds That Settlement Agreement Was Broad Enough to Include Title VII Claims

A recent decision, Smith v. JPMorgan Chase, No. 15 CIV. 808 (PAE), 2016 WL 5339548 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 23, 2016), is instructive on the law governing settlement agreements, including those claimed to bar Title VII discrimination claims. In this case, the African American plaintiff alleged that she “was terminated after an internal investigation for a violation of…