Judge Strikes ‘Scandalous’ Allegations in Associate’s Suit Against Sedgwick
An associate who claimed in a lawsuit that he suffered a breakdown partly because of “abusive conduct” by a partner at Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold included “scandalous” and irrelevant details in his complaint for disability discrimination, a Manhattan judge has ruled.
Judge James Yates struck as prejudicial claims that former associate Alan Levy was subjected to unwanted conversations about extramarital affairs and drug use, the New York Law Journal reports in a story reprinted by the New York Lawyer.
Levy’s suit alleged Sedgwick fired him when he returned to work from a seven-month medical leave and requested that he be moved from the firm’s office in New York to New Jersey. Levy, who said he had billed 3,000 hours a year, claimed his breakdown was caused by the “ferocious pace” of work and abusive conduct by litigation partner Scott Haworth.
Alleged details about the unwanted conversations “are not in any way demonstrative, years later, of a motive to discriminate against the plaintiff on the basis of his mental disability,” the judge wrote in his decision (PDF posted by the New York Law Journal).
The law firm has said Levy’s firing was “fair and in no way discriminatory.”
