ENEWSLETTER: December 2015
Civil Rights and Personal Injury and General Practice Law Firm, Dedicated to Social Justice
The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a well-respected litigation firm with an office in Hempstead, Long Island. Our focus is primarily in the area of civil rights, voting rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and criminal law. However, the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a full- service law firm handling matters in numerous areas of law and providing a wide range of services from contract formation to litigation and trial practice.
RECENT VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS
$7.75 million- Civil Rights and wrongful death action brought by the family of deceased
$4.7 million- Repeated verbal and physical assaults on Yemeni-American employee, while supervisor failed to protect employee and discipline the assailant
$1.277 million- Race based attack and serious injury by violent acts against Plaintiffs, who were lured to an isolated warehouse
$2.8 million- Wrongful death, products liability case involving a tow motor accident at a sewage treatment plant
26-Year Nassau County Correction Officer and Ordained Minister Files Separate Complaint against Sheriff’s Department Citing Racial Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation
On December 14, Jonathan Wharton, an African-American Nassau County correction officer, announced he has filed a separate complaint against the Nassau Sheriff’s Department for discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment. The jury of five women and two men found that Mr. Wharton, a veteran of the armed services, a 26-year veteran Nassau County corrections officer and an ordained minister, experienced a pattern of discrimination and/or retaliation because of complaints he filed against the department. Nassau County, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department, Elizabeth Loconsolo, Captain Peter Dudek, Captain Anthony Zuarro, Sergeant Gerard Humphreys and Mary Elisabeth Ostermann were named as defendants and each found to be liable. Mr. Wharton previously won a verdict in the amount of $420,000 after a seven-day trial.
Mr. Wharton, a 26-year Nassau County correction officer and an ordained minister, experienced a pattern of discrimination and/or retaliation because of complaints he filed against the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department. After utilizing the proper internal channels to file complaints about his treatment and the stripping of his ability to engage in ministerial acts, his complaints were not investigated and were summarily dismissed by the Nassau County Director of Equal Opportunity along with the legal counsel to the Nassau sheriff. Following his attempts to have the wrongful treatment investigated, Mr. Wharton was denied accommodations for leave for religious holidays and his duties as a minister were also curtailed when the defendants began to deny him access to the chapel. He also an abusive cartoon left for him in his work area, an area that was only accessible by Mr. Wharton’s co-workers.
Mr. Wharton was subject to retaliatory actions by the defendants, causing Mr. Wharton to suffer from embarrassment, humiliation, ridicule and mental and emotional stress, for which he sought religious counseling. In 2011, he filed a lawsuit with the Federal District Court, Eastern District Court of New York. On September 17, 2014, a jury found in favor of Mr. Wharton and rendered a verdict award of $420,000, awarding $375,000 in compensatory damages and $45,000 against the individually named defendants.
The complaint from Mr. Wharton can be read here.
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