Hudson County Has to Settle yet Another Law Suit for $245,000 of Taxpayer's Monies - Congratulations to Former Officer Giacomo Novielli Who Sued the County in Federal District Court for Wrongful Termination/Reverse Discrimination
In a law suit that has been going on since 2005, on 3/23/15 former Officer Giacomo Novielli settled his lawsuit against Hudson County for $245,000.
Problems started for Novielli 11 years ago as the County treated him differently than the African American Officers and discovery revealed that at least 62 African American officers who committed the same infraction, or worse, were permitted to stay in the County's employ. The case involved the use of sick time and the charges that were lodged against the officers when they ran out of sick time but still took off from work.
Novielli took off only one week (40 hours) and was terminated compared to the other officers who were absent for hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours at a time. Those officers were marked out "Leave Pending Approval" where Novielli who is white, was marked off ANP (Absent No Pay), charged then terminated. The African American officers ANP's disappeared and no suspensions were issued.
In June of 2005 Novielli had his Departmental Hearing and the suspension was upheld by the Hearing Officer who terminated Novielli accusing him of abandoning his job. Thereafter, the matter was appealed to the Office of Administrative Law. Novielli subpoenaed at least 11 witnesses to appear and testify on his behalf to say that he did not abandon his job but in fact had called in each and every day as instructed by his supervisor until learning that he was suspended.
Although properly subpoenaed, Daniel Sexton, Esquire of Hudson County's Legal Department instructed Novielli's witnesses not to attend the hearing so he would have no way to defend his case.
Sgt. Michael Prins did an Affidavit to this fact, and was the only witness to show up. Thereafter, Hudson County fired Sgt. Prins which ended up costing them approximately $462,000 including legal fees.
As if things could not get worse, EdPDLaw obtained a copy of Novielli's Settlement and Release Agreement and can't figure out who works for who (of course the cover-up has begun). Everyone knows that these Settlement Agreement and Releases are public record, yet the County words the Agreement like its a big secret and no one is allowed to know what is in it. In fact, the County has told Mr. Novielli and his attorney's that they will represent him in any court actions that result from the Settlement Agreement and Release. Donato Battista, County Counsel will personally represent him. That is because Novielli owes EdPDLaw money for her work on his file over the past six years.
Novielli's original attorney Herbert Tan, Esquire and EdPDLaw handled the case from 2012 until he stepped down at the end of 2014. Discovery was already complete, the County filed a Motion for Summary Judgment and EdPDLaw had already prepared the opposition together with the 35 exhibits that were received in 2013 prior to the new attorneys coming on board. In fact, Alena Shautsova, Esquire and Anthony Colleluori, Esquire did not come in to the case until 11/03/2014. They are from 2 separate law firms and only made 4 court appearances, 7/14/15, 10/1/15, 2/3/16 & 3/23/16 for settlement conferences. Discovery was already over, the opposition to the Motion for Summary Judgment was 90% complete, they just needed to throw their name on it and tab the exhibits. There was no arbitration, mediation and no trial date ever set; They were each paid $45,000 for a total of $90,000 for 3 or 4 court appearances when they told Novielli that his case was worth $1.6 million dollars.
Also, as part of that Settlement Agreement, Donato Battista, Esquire, personally guarantees to represent Novielli when EdPDLaw, or anyone else try to collect monies for working on this lawsuit. (Herbert Tan, Esquire and Anthony Pope, Esquire also worked on the case). Clearly a conflict of interest and ethics violation that will end up in the courts.
So, if you are thinking of hiring either Alena Shautsova, Esquire or Anthony Collelouri, Esquire (Raiser and Kennif, P.C.) of New York to handle your matter, I hope you think again.
Congratulations to Giacomo Novielli!
EdPDLaw Editorial
May 19, 2015
Really Star Ledger?
On March 18, 2015, the Star Ledger released 1/2 of the story on Giacomo Novielli. They actually left out the ENTIRE story. Whose payroll are they on? The story is that Daniel Sexton, Esquire, employee of Hudson County's in-house law firm instructed numerous Hudson County employees to ignore and not testify even though they were subpoenead. THAT IS THE ENTIRE STORY. Had the Star Ledger contacted the Union they would have learned that this is a common practice of Mr. Sexton which leads to these GIANT COSTLY LAWSUITS which have to be farmed out to REAL attorneys that know that you have to appear and testify if you receive a subpoena....... duh
EdPDLaw Editorial May 4, 2015
Hudson County Faces Another Federal Law Suit - Giacomo Novielli Sues the County in Federal Disctrict Court for Wrongful Termination/Reverse Discrimination
Novielli is suing Hudson County for reverse discrimination. Novielli is a white male of Italian descent. In the prison where he was employed, caucasians and hispanics are the minority and African Americans are the majority. Novielli produced evidence of 62 African Americans that committed the same infraction as he did or a worse infraction, but were permitted to keep their jobs with no discipline, minor discipline or who worked out a Settlement Agreement with the County.
In a law suit that has been going on since 2005 Giacomo Novielli won a giant hurdle last week as he survived summary judgment and awaits a trial date.
BACKSTORY:
In February of 2005, Novielli had been using his sick time to care for a sick family member. He quickly exhausted all of his sick time and on February 8, 2005 was out of time. Novielli explained his circumstances to his supervisor who told him she understood and to take care of his family but to call in each day that they would "figure it out when he returned". Novielli did as he was instructed and continued to call in each and everyday to his Sgt. Michael Prins who marked him Absent No Pay "ANP". However, on February 18, 2005 when Novielli called in he was told by Sgt. Prins that he was "suspended".
In June of 2005 Novielli had his Departmental Hearing and the suspension was upheld by the Hearing Officer who terminated Novielli accusing him of abandoning his job. Thereafter, the matter was appealed to the Office of Administrative Law. Novielli subpoenaed at least 8 witnesses to appear and testify on his behalf.
Novielli was represented by Anthony Pope, Esquire and the County was represented by Daniel Sexton, Esquire. Despite being served by a Process Serving Company, Daniel Sexton, Esquire instructed the County Employees that they did not have to appear at the hearing and testify.
Sgt. Michael Prins knew that he could not simply ignore a subpoena no matter what the County attorney instructed and informed the attorney for Novielli that he had been instructed to ignore the subpoena. This caused Novielli to serve Prins with a 2nd subpoena, and although Prins showed up and testified on Novielli's behalf, the other 7 witnesses did not. This caused Novielli to lose the hearing at the Office of Administrative Law.
The actions of Daniel Sexton, Esquire, besides being highly unethical, were determined to be a continuation of the harassment and discrimination endured by Novielli thereby extending the Statute of Limitations on his claim.
Specifically, Plaintiff alleged in the Amended Complaint that Defendant's Counsel, Daniel Sexton, directed Defendant's employees not to appear at the Office of Administrative Law hearing that Plaintiff initiated regarding his suspension and termination. Therefore this Court found ... that Defendant's failure to produce witnesses at his hearing was in furtherance of their retaliatory and discriminatory conduct...
Novielli is suing Hudson County for reverse discrimination. Novielli is a white male of Italian descent. In the prison where he was employed, caucasians and hispanics are the minority and African Americans are the majority. Novielli produced evidence of 62 African Americans that committed the same infraction as he did or a worse infraction, but were permitted to keep their jobs with no discipline, minor discipline or who worked out a Settlement Agreement with the County.
As explained in the Judge's decision:
Plaintiff explained that 62 African Americans had absences far greater than the alleged absences by Plaintiff of 5 days or 40 hours, many of whom are still employed with the Defendant. Additionally, Plaintiff offers evidence that Defendants routinely negotiate or dispose of charges by way of "Settlement Agreement" where Defendants offer non-Caucasian officers "time served" in lieu of/or in combination with a suspension.
Moreover, the supervisor involved in the incident was Acting Deputy Director Tish Nalls- Castillo who had filed her own suit against the County for discrimination to obtain her promotion to Captain and subsequently fired Sgt. Michael Prins thereafter conducting a flawed investigation.
As explained in the Judge's decision:
Finally, Plaintiff has stated that his "chronic absence" was no more than a pretext for his termination by a Lieutenant Tish Nalls, an African American female, who, since 2003, "was gathering evidence to sue the County for racism and demanded his termination."
Tish Nalls is one of those that was subpoenaed and never testified. Coincidentally, she was just appointed to "Acting" Deputy Director over 2 white Captains with at least 5 years more time and experience than she had evidencing Novielli's claim of reverse discrimination and favoritism towards African-Americans.
