On May 11, 1999, a former employee of the New York Police Department filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York. The Plaintiff sued the New York City Police Department and Mayor Giuliani, seeking to convert the Plaintiff's prior actions into a class action and broaden those claims to assert "every kind of discrimination available under the law," including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e). The Plaintiff filed the complaint pro se. The Plaintiff alleged that a large number of employees of the Police Department engaged adverse actions against the Plaintiff between 1983 and May 1999. According to the Plaintiff, these actions involved termination of her employment, failure to promote, failure to accommodate a disability, unequal terms and conditions of employment, and other acts based on Plaintiff's race, gender/sex, national origin, age, disability, color and religion. This case was assigned to Magistrate Judge Francis and Judge Robert P. Patterson. Richards v. City of New York, 2000 WL 20697 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 12, 2000).

The origins of this lawsuit began on October 16, 1998, when the Plaintiff filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging various forms of discrimination against the same defendant. In December 1998, the EEOC issued a right to sue letter to the Plaintiff.

On January 22, 1999, the court partially granted the Defendants' motion for summary judgment and dismissed the majority of the Plaintiff's claims as time-barred, among other reasons. One of the specific issues litigated in this first lawsuit was the Plaintiff's claim that the Defendants retaliated against her for filing EEOC claims of discrimination by discharging her. This claim along with the remaining claims were tried by a jury. The jury reached a verdict for the Defendants on May 14, 1999.

After the loss in the first case, the Plaintiff filed this lawsuit. In addition to the broadening of her previous claims as described in the first paragraph, the Plaintiff again claimed that the Defendants retaliated against her for filing the first lawsuit with the EEOC.

On November 8, 1999, the Defendants filed a motion to dismiss, which was based on three assertions:

(1) the majority of Plaintiff's claims were barred by principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel or barred by the 300-day time constraints applicable to the Charge filed with the EEOC on October 16, 1998;
(2) the complaint fails to meet the requirements of Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; and
(3) the remaining paragraphs of the complaint fail to state a claim upon which relief might be granted.

On January 12, 2000, Judge Patterson granted this motion to dismiss on the theory that the Plaintiff's complaint contained a reiteration of the same claims of discrimination that she had alleged in the first lawsuit. Judge Patterson therefore ruled that the Plaintiff is barred from relitigating the same claims on principles of estoppel. The case is now closed. Richards v. City of New York, 2000 WL 20697 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 12, 2000).

Lisa Koo - 03/21/2019


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