From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Belle v. Zelmanowicz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
May 20, 2003
305 A.D.2d 272 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)

Opinion

1198

May 20, 2003.

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Jerry Crispino, J.), entered July 25, 2002, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendants' motion to dismiss plaintiffs' causes of action for employment discrimination and loss of consortium, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Jay M. Weinstein, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Susan G. Rosenthal, for defendants-respondents.

Before: Tom, J.P., Mazzarelli, Rosenberger, Ellerin, Williams, JJ.


Plaintiff claims a systematic pattern of discriminatory conduct by defendants extending over nearly 30 years, but the only purported acts of discrimination or retaliation alleged to have occurred within the three-year limitations period are a false offer of a generous retirement package intended to dissuade plaintiff from filing a discrimination claim, the lack of a pay raise, and utterance of racial epithets. The allegations concerning the retirement offer and plaintiff's salary do not show an adverse change in plaintiff's employment (see Ferrante v. American Lung Assn., 90 N.Y.2d 623, 629), and the allegations concerning the epithets do not show who did it, when and how often it occurred, how it affected plaintiff's ability to do his job and whether he ever complained about it (see Harris v. Forklift Sys., 510 U.S. 17, 21-23). Accordingly, plaintiff's discrimination claims were properly dismissed for lack of allegations sufficient to show at least one adverse employment action (see Cordone v. Wilens Baker, 286 A.D.2d 597, 598; Lane-Weber v. Plainedge Union Free School Dist., 213 A.D.2d 515, 516, lv dismissed 87 N.Y.2d 968), or at least one discrete act contributing to a hostile work environment (see National R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Morgan, 536 U.S. 101, 105), within the limitations period. In addition, a cause of action for loss of consortium cannot be based on employment discrimination (see Mehtani v. New York Life Ins. Co., 145 A.D.2d 90, 95, lv denied in part and dismissed in part 74 N.Y.2d 835).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.


Summaries of

Belle v. Zelmanowicz

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
May 20, 2003
305 A.D.2d 272 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
Case details for

Belle v. Zelmanowicz

Case Details

Full title:GEORGE W. BELLE, ET AL., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CHAIM ZELMANOWICZ…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: May 20, 2003

Citations

305 A.D.2d 272 (N.Y. App. Div. 2003)
761 N.Y.S.2d 26

Citing Cases

Sigmone v. Walsh

Applying these principles to this action, including according the plaintiff the benefit of every possible…

Rios v. Metropolitan Transp. Auth.

According to defendants, such derivative claims may not be asserted in employment discrimination cases as a…