Judge rules Van Lenten, 4 others never defrauded NJMG

The Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, where Superior Court Judge Robert C. Wilson dismissed a lawsuit filed by North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, against a former executive.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In a 40-page decision, a Superior Court judge in Hackensack ruled North Jersey Media Group's fraud allegations against former executive Peter Van Lenten Jr. and four other defendants were completely without merit.

"The lawsuit is clearly an example of 'buyer's remorse,'" Judge Robert C. Wilson wrote, dismissing NJMG's interpretation of New Jersey laws.

"At its core, this case is plaintiff's retrospective analysis of its business relationship with the defendants."

In addition to the estate of Van Lenten, NJMG vice president of information technology until April 2009, other defendants were vendors IC System Solutions and Computer Network Solutions; and ICSS executives Philip Nolan and Nancy Nolan.

The suit claimed NJMG, publisher of The Record, paid more than $2 million "on false/and or inflated invoices" from 2001 to 2009, and an additional $1 million for temporary workers hired at "greatly inflated charges."

Sour grapes

"NJMG now 'feels' that it engaged in some poor business transactions ... and belatedly seeks reimbursement from the defendants," the judge noted in his ruling, which was filed on Feb. 18.

"The law ... does not provide a right to institute legal proceedings against your deceased ... employee [Van Lenten died in April 2010] by simply claiming fraud without any actual proof.

"NJMG had a duty to have internal financial and management controls to avoid such a claimed calamity." 

"There are no facts demonstrating fraud by any of the defendants," the judge said, granting summary judgment and dismissing NJMG's suit with prejudice, meaning  it can never be brought back to court.

Borg, Samaro et al

Left unanswered is why NJMG Vice President/ General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg, Pashman Stein attorney Samuel J. Samaro and other hired guns from the Hackensack law firm pursued the litigation for nearly two years.

In effect, Borg squandered legal fees that could total hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and that's on top of the $3 million "fraud" alleged in the baseless suit.

The costly, embarrassing miscalculation exposes NJMG's longtime practice of closely monitoring the computers and telephones of employees in the newsroom, but not paying any attention to what its executives are doing.

A glaring example was the sexual-harassment suit filed against Jennifer Borg's father, NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, by Tracey McCain, who worked for Van Lenten and whose duties included reading his emails.

That case, which alleged the elder Borg sent emails containing pornography to Van Lenten and other managers and supervisors, was settled in September 2011 for an undisclosed amount of money.

570 days of discovery

Judge Wilson noted that about 18,000 pages of discovery (sworn testimony and other evidence) were exchanged "over the course of five hundred and seventy days," ending on Dec. 14, 2014.

In addition, about 200 statements of fact were filed.

Defendants ICSS and CNS were IT vendors who did business with NJMG from 2001-09.

Security cameras

One project was the installation of 18 security cameras at NJMG's printing plant in Rockaway Township at a cost of nearly $282,000.

The judge noted Van Lenten was not required to seek "competitive proposals" as vice president of IT.

The vendors also sold NJMG annual maintenance contracts for the cameras "at $33,000 a year." 

In a certification filed with the court, NJMG Facilities Manager Frank Devetori "belatedly" testified he could account for only nine of the 18 cameras, and that maintenance was never performed.

Document software

NJMG also purchased LibertyNet, a document management software, for $84,800, but decided not to use it in the Human Resources Department as planned.

ICSS made a profit of about 600% on the sale of LibertyNet, the judge noted.

And even though the software was never used, ICSS submitted three invoices for maintenance, "each totaling in excess of $11,000."

ICSS also billed NJMG more than $70,000 a year from 2005-08 for a service called "NOC" to detect "security intrusions" into the publishing company's computer network.

NOC was provided by the other vendor, CNS, which installed two machines at $15,000 to $20,000 each, the judge said, but NJMG claimed it "simply did not need or use" the service. 

These and other monitoring and maintenance services cost NJMG more than $170,000 a year, "and now NJMG claims they were never needed or used, in spite of the fact that NJMG was freely paying for them," Wilson wrote. 

There's more

Judge Wilson also said Van Lenten sought to upgrade NJMG's email system to a platform known as Microsoft 2007.

But the contract for $477,900 was awarded to CNS "without competitive bidding, price negotiation or comparison shopping" ... "and the system never got past Microsoft 2003."

Jon Markey

The judge noted Van Lenten was introduced to Philip Nolan of ICSS by Jon Markey, former NJMG president.

When he ascended to NJMG's throne, Stephen A. Borg took the titles of publisher and president, replacing both his father and Markey.

Today's paper

Check out the faces of greedy Weichert real estate agents in an ad wrapped around Page 1 of The Record today.

The actual front page isn't much better.

Burned-out columnist Mike Kelly again hijacks improved relations with Cuba by dredging up events dating to 1998 (A-1).

Kelly's thumbnail photo, complete with shit-eating grin, also appears on the Opinion front, where he has another boring column about a book he wrote (O-1).

How many columns is the man going to write about Joanne Chesimard, and the suicide bombing that killed Sarah Duker of Teaneck in 1996?

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes declares Governor Christie "laid out his dramatic plans" to rescue the state employee pension and health benefit system he tried to destroy in 2011.

How can you trust a so-called Analysis from a reporter who follows him around like a puppy?

At least an editorial on O-2 criticizes Christie for his broken promises, and a Margulies cartoon sums up the pension mess nicely.

Blaming the victim

Some pedestrians seem to have a death wish, but nothing they do eclipses mean-spirited drivers, especially those who run them down in crosswalks.

Today, Road Warrior John Cichowski channels drivers who blame the victim -- the pedestrians themselves (L-1).

The demented reporter seems not to have noticed New York City is now filing criminal charges against drivers who hit pedestrians in crosswalks.

He should be asking why New Jersey isn't doing the same.

Six-figure head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes came up short on local news for today's Sunday section, and a layout editor had to resort to filling the yawning hole with a long wire-service obituary (L-6).

Judges hear appeal in age-bias case

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Courthouses on West Market Street in Newark.

Three appeals court judges heard oral arguments today in a bid by Victor E. Sasson to overturn an unfavorable jury verdict in his age-discrimination case against North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

Joshua L. Weiner, the Morristown lawyer who represents Sasson, and Samuel J. Samaro of the Pashman Stein law firm in Hackensack were given about 15 minutes each to supplement written briefs submitted to the court, along with a transcript of the five-day trial.

The judges asked the attorneys a number of questions, and took the appeal under advisement, giving no indication of when they will issue a decision.

When Sasson got up to leave the Newark courtroom, he saw Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG vice president and general counsel, but she didn't greet him. NJMG is paying an estimated $400 an hour for Samaro, who also defended the company at trial.

Sasson sued The Record after features Editor Barbara Jaeger chose Bill Pitcher, who was half his age and far less qualified, to replace Patricia Mack as food editor in 2006. 

He alleged age-discrimination under the state Law Against Discrimination. He also alleged retaliation, because he was fired in May 2008, several months after the suit was filed.

The Superior Court jury disagreed. Sasson represented himself at the trial in April 2010. He is arguing the judge, Joseph S. Conte in Hackensack, twice committed reversible error:

Conte permitted the use of posts from the Eye on The Record blog during cross-examination to impeach the plaintiff's credibility, and he allowed into evidence performance reviews dating to 1985 that weren't relevant to events of 2006-08.

Sasson believes Conte should have instructed the jurors to use the blog entries only for the purpose of judging the plaintiff's credibility -- and to disregard his views the paper kept on older, white male columnists, while silencing older black, Hispanic and female columnists. 


Here are excerpts from the Jan. 22, 2010, post in Eye on The Record:

"Reading The Record of Woodland Park today made me realize just how wrong all the numbers are. Not only do at least two stories contain confusing numbers, but it's clear the paper favors older white men as columnists over blacks, Hispanics and women.


"How many older male columnists does The Record need? Today, columns by Kevin DeMarrais, Harvy Lipman, Mike Kelley, John Cichowski and Peter Grad appear in the former Hackensack daily, which got rid of its only black and only Hispanic columnists, and one of its early female columnists. A Personal Finance column by veteran reporter Kathy Lynn appears today on the first Business page, making her the paper's third female columnist. Congratulations, Kathy. But when you count unfunny humor columnist Bill Ervolino, there are twice as many older males as females."

In another post, on Nov. 17, 2009, Sasson wrote:

"This paper also contains columns by Road Warrior John Cichowski and Mike Kelly, both of whom are so far over the hill, you can no longer see the hill. And to think the paper kept these turkeys, but silenced its only black columnist, its only Latino columnist and the only columnist writing about the heroics of  police officers, firefighters and EMTs."

During his oral argument, Samaro brought up a 2008 e-mail Sasson had sent Publisher Stephen A. Borg, replying to Borg's e-mail notifying the staff of awards The Record had won. 

Samaro noted that Sasson told the publisher the paper wouldn't be winning any awards for how it treated older workers. During the trial, NJMG cited that e-mail and others as the reason Sasson received a final warning letter.

Today, before the Appellate Division, Samaro's tone tried to convey, What a nerve this guy had e-mailing the publisher. That's why he was fired.

But Judge Victor Ashrafi, head of the three-judge panel, said, "You can't make that argument." 

The judge noted victims have a right to complain about discrimination without retaliation.

'Great pride in ... responsible journalism'

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Want to know what the Borgs think of the journalism being practiced at The Record of Woodland Park? I didn't think they were paying attention to the decline of the newspaper, but a letter from their attorney says otherwise:

"My client's commitment to the First Amendment is paramount and plainly evident in the way it conducts its reporting and business," attorney Samuel J. Samaro said. "North Jersey Media Group takes great pride in getting the facts right and practicing responsible journalism."

Do you agree? Is the virtual blackout on Hackensack municipal and development news "responsible journalism"? Or is this obviously a case of an attorney who will say anything, if you pay him his inflated hourly fee?

The letter, sent Friday to my attorney, Joshua L. Weiner of Weiner & Weiner in Morristown, demands that I retract references in "Eye on The Record" to the Borgs, editors and others. Samaro calls them "misstatements of facts and defamation."

My lawyer defended the accuracy of the references and replied that none of them would be deleted.

"Please be advised," he wrote, "that any legal action taken against my client regarding his constitutionally protected blog entries will be construed as a selective lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) attempting to burden and intimidate my client into foregoing his criticisms and opposition to NJMG."

Contact with jurors draws warning

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Last weekend, I checked the telephone book and found listings for six of the eight jurors who heard my age-discrimination lawsuit in Superior Court and returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, including North Jersey Media Group.


I left messages on answering machines, but reached only one of them. He hung up on me. A second juror's husband said she was upset by my message, and didn't want to talk. A woman who sounded like the mother of a third juror said she didn't know when he would be returning.

I was more interested in their interpretation of the evidence I had presented than in their deliberations.

When I covered state and federal courts in New Jersey as a reporter, I recall contacting jurors after trials or interviewing them on courthouse steps. But now, one of the jurors in my case was "upset" and wrote a letter to the judge. The judge then informed me in a letter faxed and mailed to my home that a court rule barred me -- a party to a lawsuit -- from contacting jurors without his permission. He asked me to come to court.
 
During a break in another jury trial today, Judge Joseph S. Conte ordered me to refrain from any further contact with jurors or face contempt of court charges. I said I was totally unaware of the rule. He said that reporters in New Jersey also are barred from contacting jurors.

NJMG's hired gun ($300 to $400 an hour) -- attorney Samuel J. Samaro, head of the employment practice at Pashman Stein in Hackensack -- also was in court. He continued his complaints about the "Eye on The Record" blog, which he used against me during the trial.

Samaro informed the judge that I had been blogging about the trial, and "blamed" him and the jurors for the unfavorable outcome April 9. He said I continued to use the blog "to punish" people I didn't like.  He also objected to my listing jurors' hometowns and occupations I gleaned in open court.

I replied that I was reporting what happened at a public trial, and didn't blame anyone for what happened. However, I did say in this blog I disagree with rulings that allowed Samaro to present evidence I felt was unduly prejudicial -- as he mounted a slash-and-burn defense that put me -- the pro se plaintiff -- on trial.


Samaro gives the impression he has never read a newspaper, and knows nothing of satire and critical journalism. He seems genuinely offended by my blog, and my criticism of The Record's editors and owners. He also portrays himself as a klutz when it comes to maintaining an automobile, and told me he hates to eat healthy. He certainly looks it.

Putting the plaintiff on trial

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Attorney Samuel J. Samaro, the hired gun who opposed me at the Superior Court trial of my suit, taught me a thing or two. But nothing he said came in time to help me win my case. "I can't be bought, but I can be rented [for $300 to $400 an hour]," he said during a break on Thursday.


Samaro said that in the 20 or so years he has been practicing employment law, he has represented both sides -- employers and employees. If he believes in a worker's case, he will take it on a contingency basis (no hourly fee). The only way to win, he said, is to portray the employer as "evil." That's what he did to win a $1 million settlement for two professors.


He didn't have to say what he does when he defends an employer -- I watched him doing it to me. Samaro put me on trial and, with a favorable ruling from the judge, he was able to dredge up details of my performance reviews dating to 1985. I put my objections on the record, telling the judge anything beyond 2005 would be unduly prejudicial.

Samaro also won another motion -- to admit excerpts from my "Eye on The Record" blog that referred to all the white male columnists The Record was left with after getting rid of Hispanic, black and female columnists in their 50s. My comment that Mike Kelly and John Cichowski were "over the hill" also was used against me.


There was more. A letter I wrote to the EEOC in 2006 and my answers to questions during the discovery phase of the case also were quoted. As with the blog, these unfortunate comments about Bill Pitcher's weight had nothing to do with age discrimination and retaliation -- the two narrow issues the jury had to decide.

He used more words of mine against me, especially my preference for naturally grown or raised food as opposed to the obsession for desserts often found in the food pages of the newspaper. My e-mails to Publisher Stephen A. Borg, notably one sent April 4, 2008, about mistreatment of older workers, also were read to the jury.


I recall the day I testified and Samaro cross-examined me, using performance reviews written by Kathy Sullivan and Dan Shea, among other editors. On many occasions, I explained to the jury, I was fighting for the integrity of my lead paragraph with rewriters and others, but the jury only saw someone who was difficult to deal with.

I wasn't allowed to tell the jury anything about Sullivan or especially Shea, who was married when he had an affair with a reporter, Stephanie Stokes. When he first took over the Business News department, he told me to call a failing bank but not to say I was a reporter. Later, Shea was put in charge of buying a new typesetting system, and purchased one that made us miss deadline numerous times after he left for New Orleans.


When I moved to the copy desk to get "editing experience" at the age of 44, Shea sent me an Atex message: "Sigh, I can't make old jokes about you anymore."


The judge also granted another Samaro motion, preventing me from discussing what I saw as mistreatment of other older workers in the newsroom, including fellow members of the news copy desk. I doubted the jury understood how the desk had become a scrap heap for older workers and was considered the lowest of the low by assignment and the Franks.


I wanted to call Diane Tinsley, a graphic artist who left The Record, and have her testify about her age- and race-bias complaint to the state Division on Civil Rights in 2008, but was prevented from doing so by the judge, who granted Samaro's objection. 

Defendant Jennifer A. Borg, the chief legal officer of North Jersey Media Group, had been in contact with Tinsley's lawyer, but Borg also knew she had testified at one of her depositions that my bias complaint was the only one filed. Borg was in the courtroom from beginning to end, taking notes and advising Samaro.

In his closing argument, Samaro also tried to portray me as litigious and claimed I used my knowledge of age-discrimination law as a "shield" against discipline -- despite having told the jury in excruciating detail how I was disciplined numerous times, put on probation and cited for insubordination twice (in 1995) when I walked out of meetings to discuss my calling in sick on a Jewish holiday.


Jennifer Borg even testified that my supervisors feared me -- feared that I would name them in a lawsuit.

Utterly alone in the courtroom

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During the eight days my age-discrimination suit was tried in Superior Court, I sat alone at the table reserved for the plaintiff, and no one showed up to sit on the benches in a sign of support. I noticed the eight jurors watching me on occasion as I sat by myself, taking notes, looking for documents or just listening. Now, I wonder whether they drew any conclusions from my isolation.

The defendants were represented by Samuel J. Samaro, head of the employment practice at Pashman Stein in Hackensack; Dina L. Sforza, the in-house attorney for North Jersey Media Group; and Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG vice president and general counsel.

I objected to Borg's presence, because she was scheduled to testify and would gain an advantage from hearing other witnesses, but the judge said that as a defendant, she had a right to be there. Normally, witnesses are sequestered.

Samaro was hired during the discovery phase and took two of the three depositions I gave in my lawyer's office in Morristown. He acted tough at times, taking off his glasses, staring right into my eyes and  telling me I had to answer all of his questions. He joined the defense after NJMG apparently lost confidence in Sforza to see the case through to the end. Sforza didn't attend the entire trial.


Borg took copious notes, spoke to Samaro frequently, suggested questions and possibly motions, and made numerous calls to her office. At other times, she spoke to her fellow lawyers unselfconsciously about children, her nephews (Stephen Borg's four sons), her orange Land Rover sport-utility vehicle, which she referred to as an "Orange Beast" that attracts police like a magnet; her driving record, a speeding ticket she received and other subjects.

None of my former colleagues appeared in the courtroom (besides Patricia Mack and Aaron Elson, both of whom testified). Nor did Joshua L. Weiner, the attorney who helped me prepare for trial and who had represented me along with his father, Paul, since last summer. My 12-year-old son, Roshane, was off from school, but he threatened to shout out at the defendants' witnesses, "Lies! It's all lies!" He stayed home. A couple of times, I saw and spoke with Kibret Markos, the paper's courthouse reporter, but he didn't write a word.

When Stephen A. Borg testified in front of the jury, he wore a dark suit and tie -- in contrast to the wrinkled white shirt, open at the collar, and slacks he wore to his deposition on Dec. 7, 2009, at 1 Garret Mountain in Woodland Park. His hair was a mess. He spoke about his grandfather on his mother's side, Charles Agemian, who was born in Aleppo, Syria, and how he was writing a story about him for (201) magazine.

Of course, Stephen Borg wasn't aware that my both of my Jewish parents were born in Aleppo, or that the day of his deposition also was the anniversary of my mother's death in 1993.

At the trial, he testified that Dec. 7, 2009, was the first time he had met me, despite all the e-mails I had sent him for many months before I left The Record in May 2008, or as he put it, This is the first time I can pick him "out of a lineup." Asked to explain to the jury what he meant by lineup, he said it was merely a figure of speech.

Jury: No cause for action in age-bias case

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A Superior Court jury said this afternoon there was no age discrimination in the selection of The Record's food editor in 2006 or retaliation in the firing of Victor E. Sasson for filing a lawsuit against executives and managers.

Sasson, author of "Eye on The Record," represented himself at the trial, in consultation with Joshua L. Weiner, the plaintiff's Morristown attorney since last summer. (Photo: Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.)

Jennifer A. Borg, a defendant, and Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg were in court to hear the 8-0 verdict shortly after 5 p.m. The jury of four women and four men, all of whom were allowed to deliberate, returned their decision after only an hour of discussion.

The elder Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, is over 70. During breaks, he was asked about his childhood in Hackensack, where he lived in a home at Summit and Fairmount avenues. He said his father bought the house and many  acres of land behind it during the Depression. He was born in 1938.

Jennifer Borg, who attended the trial every day and testified, would not allow Mac to comment on the color photo that ran in the Woodland Park paper yesterday showing a woman making an obscene gesture at the photographer.

At trial, NJMG was represented by Samuel J. Samaro, a veteran litigator who heads the employment practice of Pashman Stein in Hackensack. He said he billed "in the vicinity" of $300 to $400 an hour, and boasted of a $1 million settlement he won in a sex-bias case filed by two women who were William Paterson University professors. His said his fee exceeded the money paid to the plaintiffs.

"You're in my house now," he said during a break in the proceedings this week, referring to the courtroom.

Judge Joseph S. Conte in Hackensack said the plaintiff did a "fine job" for a pro se, but noted it was a "tough case." The eight-day trial began March 29.

The judge preserved NJMG's right to file suit against "Eye on The Record," about the fourth or fifth time such an action has been threatened. Samaro alleged recent comments in the blog about the elder Borg constituted "a threat."

Weiner said he looked forward to defending Sasson, a former news copy editor and freelance food writer for The Record, and the blog. Sasson's lawsuit was served on the defendants in January 2008.