Image via WikipediaVictor E. Sasson, pro se plaintiff in an age-discrimination suit against North Jersey Media Group and author of Eye on The Record, is appealing the unfavorable verdict returned in April by a Superior Court jury in Hackensack.
The appeal is challenging two evidentiary rulings made by the trial judge, Joseph S. Conte.
The first ruling allowed blog entries to be admitted to attack Sasson's credibility.
The second allowed pre-2005 performance reviews to be placed into the record, even though they were not utilized by NJMG in refusing to promote him to food editor of The Record in 2006 and terminating him in 2008 -- several months after his lawsuit was served on the defendants, including Features Director Barbara Jaeger, Editors Francis Scandale and Deirdre Sykes, and Publisher Stephen A. Borg.
The first ruling allowed blog entries to be admitted to attack Sasson's credibility.
The second allowed pre-2005 performance reviews to be placed into the record, even though they were not utilized by NJMG in refusing to promote him to food editor of The Record in 2006 and terminating him in 2008 -- several months after his lawsuit was served on the defendants, including Features Director Barbara Jaeger, Editors Francis Scandale and Deirdre Sykes, and Publisher Stephen A. Borg.
The appeal was filed last week by Attorney Joshua L. Weiner of Weiner & Weiner in Morristown. He believes the blog entries and the pre-2005 evaluations were unduly prejudicial to the plaintiff's case, especially because the judge did not caution jurors to limit their consideration of that evidence.
Sasson's attorney has asked for oral arguments before a panel of the Appellate Division of state Superior Court. If granted, they are not expected to take place until at least early next year.
WTG Victor (that's text message speak for Way to Go, Victor, as opposed, say, to RCA Victor, which made record players. Good luck with the appeal.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you, Victor. Time those jerks and their inner court were brought to light.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I agree wholeheartedly.
ReplyDeleteWhether I agree or disagree with your posts, good luck with the retrial. Age discrimination isn't too far from the realm of possibility, especially in the newspaper industry. Check out gannettblog.blogspot.com; that rather large newspaper company has a large share of age discrimination complaints.
ReplyDeleteLook at the ages of everyone who has been let go, and everyone who has been hired in the past five years.
ReplyDeleteI have and it's pretty obvious there is a pattern of age discrimination in the newsroom. Unfortunately, the judge in my case barred me from introducing that evidence during the trial in April.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't feel too comfortable on the last day when the judge, Joseph S. Conte, greeted Malcolm A. "Mac" Brog warmly on Mac's only appearance in the courtroom's spectator section in a dark pinstripe suit, and they reminisced about a ceremony on the courthouse steps Mac spoke at.
Then Mac was off to see another judge whose father he had known.
Good Luck with your appeal. When do you go before the Appeals Court,for your hearing?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a date, but it won't be until the early part of next year.