| After Coop City Is Sued For
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Jury Finds
Case Not Proved
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 28 – Damien Reyes sued
Riverbay Corporation for
employment discrimination at
Coop City in The Bronx in
2018.
His complaint
says he was "subjected to
physical threat, intimidation,
verbal abuse and assault by
co-workers, based on his
sexual orientation as a
homosexual male."
On September 22,
2020 U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Gregory H. Woods
held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Riverbay
Corporation was trying to
preclude the testimony of
Reyes' expert, Dr. Richard
Dudley. But in a lengthy oral
ruling, Judge Woods denied the
motion and said the testimony
came come in.
Citing Daubert,
Judge Woods said the expert
can be cross-examined on
matters in dispute.
On November 20,
Judge Woods held another
conference in the case. Inner
City Press again covered it.
Talk turned to
when the trial might be. On
very little notice, Judge
Woods said. He said the SDNY
has cases "stacked up" such
that if a criminal defendant
pleads guilty before trial,
there is a civil case ready to
go.
On December 4,
Judge Woods held another
proceeding, and ruled on
motions in limine. He
disagreed with Coop City that
the prior disciplinary record
of one of its employees can be
kept out. Likewise, testimony
about the time after Reyes
changed status will come in.
But events after discovery
closed?
On December 17,
Judge Woods held another
proceeding, and Inner City
Press covered it. The trial
has been adjourned from
January 25. The witness list
and other exhibits have been
filed into the docket, but the
public and press cannot see
them.
The
plaintiff's lawyer said he
still works for Riverbay: he
has a union job and the
employment market amid COVID
is not good. But he says there
is still the threat of
retaliation.
On April 28,
Judge Woods held another
conference, and Inner City
Press again covered it.
Reference was made to trial
procedures amid COVID, to the
Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders,
5th Edition (DSM-5) and
"perhaps the most toxic word"
in the US today.
Judge Woods said
if the trial's window is
missed, it will have to wait
until 2022.
On May 14, Judge
Woods held another, seemingly
final pre-trial conference. He
described how jury selection
will work on the first floor
of 500 Pearl Street (Inner
City Press recently covered
jury selection in Judge Ronnie
Abrams' US v. Hild reverse
mortgage fraud trial).
The
parties asked how to refer to
the time frame, and if they
could say an exhibit was
"admitted without objection."
No, Judge Woods replied, let
your adversary say, No
objection."
The trial started
on May 19.
On May 20, Reyes
was in the (plexiglass) box,
being questioned about support
his supervisors had ostensibly
offered, and e-mails to the
effect. In half of the
enlarged jury area sat eight
jurors, and in the gallery,
two women and Inner City
Press.
Coop City's
lawyer from Jackson Lewis in
White Plains questioned Reyes
about some of his co-worked
helping him. He begrudgingly
acknowledged it, perhaps too
begrudgingly.
By May 28, Reyes
had lost his case. The verdict
form asked, "Has Mr. Reyes
proved, by a preponderance of
the evidence, that hw as
subjected to a hostile work
environment?" No, the jury
answered.
The case is Reyes
v. Riverbay Corporation,
18-cv-5092 (Woods).
***
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