The case of the hidden sex suit

The complaint, above, used block letters, "ABC," "DEF" and so forth, to identify the plaintiff and defendants, but the amended complaint, below, used their full names.

 

The wrongful-discharge and sexual-harassment lawsuit Craig C. Caso of Maywood filed in 2000 against Jennifer A. Borg, vice president and general counsel of North Jersey Media Group, was sent to the Trenton archives of state Superior Court.

The archives aren't open to the public or accessible online.
    
Eye on The Record sent a request by snail mail for a copy of the lawsuit after anonymous tipsters revealed its existence, but warned the names of the plaintiff and defendants had been hidden.

The blog followed immediately with a second letter, requesting the defendants' answer to the complaint.

This past Friday, a large manila envelope arrived with the original complaint, an amended complaint and several motions filed by Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch, lawyers for the defendants.

The answer to the lawsuit wasn't included.

Only the original lawsuit, filed for the plaintiff by attorney Randall G. Tashjian of Hackensack, hid the names of those involved behind block letters.

All of the other legal papers sent to Eye on The Record carried the full names.  

I couldn't reach the plaintiff's lawyer to find out why the block letters were used when the suit was filed on Feb. 14, 2000, or why they were abandoned in the amended complaint, which is dated July 1, 2000. 

For more on the lawsuit, click on the following link: 

The Borgs: Like father, like daughter? 

The Borgs: Like father, like daughter?

The lawsuit was filed at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, isn't the only member of the prominent newspaper publishing family to have settled a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment.

Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG vice president and general counsel, was named as a defendant in a sexual harassment suit filed in 2002 at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

The plaintiff was Craig C. Caso, an employee of The Record for nearly 15 years who alleged he was "wrongfully discharged and terminated" on Feb. 25, 2000.

The events described in the suit occurred at what is now the former headquarters of The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack. The building has been closed for years.

In his amended complaint, Caso said "plaintiff was subjected to acts of sexual harassment by the defendants ... consisting of verbal and/or physical conduct of a sexual nature that did result in an alteration of the terms and conditions of plaintiff's employment, creating a hostile work environment ...."

In the Seventh Count, which was ultimately dismissed, Caso alleged "harassment was based on sexual conduct between the plaintiff and the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, which in turn resulted in plaintiff's wrongful discharge of employment on February 25, 2000 ...."

Caso also alleged that he was required to "voluntarily terminate his employment with the defendant, Bergen Record Corporation, in the event of wedlock between the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, and the plaintiff, which was refused by the plaintiff."

That count also was dismissed later, but the defendants -- Malcolm Borg, daughter Jennifer Borg, North Jersey Media Group and Bergen Record Corp. -- eventually settled the lawsuit in 2004.

The case had been partially tried before Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo, according to documents on file in Hackensack and at the state court's Record Center in Trenton.

Eye on The Record will return soon with more details of the lawsuit and its critique of The Record.