{"id":19898,"date":"2014-04-30T17:27:39","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T21:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=19898"},"modified":"2014-04-30T17:27:39","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T21:27:39","slug":"jury-awards-what-happens-when-a-judge-doesnt-like-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=19898","title":{"rendered":"Jury awards: what happens when a judge doesn’t like one"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been kind of busy lately and am a week behind in Sidebar<\/strong> posts. But this lawsuit story in the Daily News caught my eye a few minutes ago, for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n

First, the federal judge is Hon. I. Leo Glasser, whose name I have recognized and typed into documents at various times in my paralegal career. He always sounded like a solid and smart judge \u2212 and this decision supports my impression. And second, there’s a nice picture of him (I did remember that he’s sort of famous for wearing bow ties) and I’ve never seen him before so …<\/p>\n

Anyway.\u00a0 As John Marzulli, who covers the federal court in Brooklyn, begins this piece:<\/p>\n

The verdict was a dollar and a dream.<\/em><\/p>\n

A federal judge has tossed out a $900,001 award to a Manhattan man who claimed he was the victim of anti-Semitic harassment at an upscale catering company …<\/em><\/p>\n

OK, so that sounds like a case, right? But do read on (EXCLUSIVE: Judge nixes $900G awarded to man who sued Mangia catering company over anti-Semitic harassment – NY Daily News<\/a>.) because this poor victim of anti-Semitism had quite a few problems with his story, his case, his lack of evidence, his performance on the witness stand, et cetera. As Marzulli goes on:<\/p>\n

Wiercinski’s<\/em> [the, um, victim?] lawyer, Matthew Blit, told the jury that if his client had done anything wrong, “the judge had an obligation to do something about it.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Glasser did. The judge referred a transcript of Wiercinski’s testimony to the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office <\/em>[the same office that’s prosecuting Michael Grimm, hurrah hurrah] for investigation…<\/em><\/p>\n

Indeed, I can’t figure out what the jury was noshing on in the jury room when it coughed up this award. And, yes, you’re right: it’s unusual for a judge to throw out a jury award. Usually, a questionable case and a mammoth award heads to the appellate judges who are the ones to toss ’em, as I’ve pointed out a few times before.<\/p>\n

There are a number of excellent plaintiff lessons to learn in this story, along the “don’t do this!” line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been kind of busy lately and am a week behind in Sidebar posts. But this lawsuit story in the Daily News caught my eye a few minutes ago, for a number of reasons. First, the federal judge is Hon. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[60,659],"class_list":["post-19898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","tag-employment-lawsuits","tag-workplace-harassment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t