New York Law Journal (July 12, 2024 at 06:34 PM) A federal court judge on Friday dismissed a claim of unlawful retaliation against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by an unnamed state trooper who was part of his protective security detail, and had alleged he touched her inappropriately, among a series of harassing behavior.
The ruling by District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District was based largely on Cuomo and the trooper, described in court papers as “Trooper 1,” not having an “employer-employee relationship.”
DeArcy Hall wrote that “the universe of relationships” within New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws’ reach “is not unbounded.”
A “plaintiff, if not a current employee, should be shown to occupy a subordinate position in an ongoing economic relationship that is threatened by the ‘employer’s’ retaliation, and the nature of the retaliation itself should have a demonstrable nexus to the harm being alleged,” DeArcy Hall wrote.
DeArcy Hall’s decision also explained the rationale for dismissing discrimination and retaliation claims last year the trooper brought against two former Cuomo aides, Melissa DeRosa and Rich Azzopardi, his ex-chief of staff and spokesman, respectively.
Both were removed from the lawsuit, while a sexual harassment claim against Cuomo and New York State Police is still pending.
The trooper had alleged through her attorney, Wigdor managing partner Valdi Licul, that her testimony in May 2021 in an official state investigation concerning Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment, and a demand letter the trooper sent to Cuomo and Derosa’s lawyer asserting her legal rights in September 2021, were protected activities.
The trooper’s lawsuit said that, as part of a series of retaliatory acts, Derosa falsely accused her of extortion and threatened legal action in November 2021.
Then, in February 2022, Cuomo threatened to seek criminal prosecution of his accusers, announcing on social media that he would make submissions to relevant district attorneys related to perjury and witness tampering.
Later that month, on the same day the trooper filed her lawsuit, Azzopardi posted on social media that the trooper and her attorneys were attempting to “extort” a settlement and “cheap cash.”
DeArcy Hall, the judge, noted that those acts occurred after Cuomo had left office in August 2021.
The judge also agreed with DeRosa’s argument that the trooper failed to plead facts that allow for the inference that DeRosa had been aware of Cuomo’s alleged harassment of the trooper at the time it occurred.
“Perhaps in an implicit recognition of this deficiency, Plaintiff contends that knowledge of Cuomo’s alleged harassment can be imputed onto DeRosa by virtue of her position. That is, according to Plaintiff, DeRosa knew that Cuomo harassed Plaintiff by virtue of DeRosa’s position as Cuomo’s Chief of Staff, where she ‘shared his confidence, protected his reputation, and resigned alongside him when the time came.’ Plaintiff asks the Court to assume too much.”
In a statement, Wigdor said: “With all due respect to the court, today’s decision sets a dangerous precedent. It permits sexual harassers and their enablers who resign in disgrace to retaliate against their victims without any legal consequences. We believe the decision is wrong and will make all legal efforts to ensure that it does not stand. It should not go unnoticed that the sexual harassment claims against Mr. Cuomo and the New York State Police will proceed. As will Trooper 1’s federal retaliation claims against Mr. Cuomo. We look forward to holding him accountable for his pervasive harassment of women while he was governor.“
Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, issued a statement blasting the New York Attorney General’s investigative report that found he had harassed multiple women as “a political hatchet job lacking legal merit.”
Glavin’s statement added: “While politics and a reckless media mob carried the day in 2021, truth and the rule of law will ultimately prevail. We look forward to the public seeing what we’ve learned through discovery and to prevailing in court.”
In a joint statement, Azzopardi and Derosa said: “This decision confirms what we said all along: Trooper #1′s complaint was a gross abuse of the court system and a transparent attempt to weaponize the Attorney General’s sham report for her own personal financial gain. These efforts have failed. We believe that Judge DeArcy Hall’s opinion demonstrates that Trooper #1′s claims were frivolous and, as such, we are considering our legal options.”’
By Brian Lee
US Judge Tosses ‘Trooper 1’s’ Retaliation Claim Against Cuomo | New York Law Journal
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