William Robert Amlong's Legal Cases (4)

Discrimination

Donovan v. Broward County

May 02, 2008

OUTCOME: Internal EEO policy invalidated as retaliatory

Richard Donovan, a white bus driver, complained internally about being passed over for a promotion in favor of a black driver. While Broward County's Office of Equal Opportunity began an internal inve ... stigation of his complaint, it terminated the investigation -- which could have led to an internal resolution -- as soon as it learned that Donovan had filed Charges of Discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations. Donovan sued on behalf of himself an all other Broward County employees, alleging that the county's policy of terminating internal anti-discrimination remedies for anyone who filed with the EEOC or the FCHR was per se retaliatory because it discouraged county employees from seeking to vindicate their rights under either Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the Florida Civil RIghts Act of 1992. While the trial court, Hon. Robert Lance Andrews, J., initially dismissed the action, holding that ceasing the internal investigation did not constitute an adverse employment action, the Floirda Court of Appeal for the Fourth District held that the termination of the investigation, and denial of any internal remedy to any county employee who sought invoke either Title VII or the FCRA, was enough to deter a reasonable employee from exercising those rights. It relied upon Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, 548 U.S. 53 (2006), which had lowered the threshold for what constitutes an adverse employment action in the context of retaliation. The issue was considered important enough that the Florida affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Assocation filed an amicus curiae brief. On remand, Broward County stipulated to striking the policy, reinstating the internal investigation of Donovan's complaint, and paying Donovant's attorney's fees and costs.

Litigation

Taylor v. Martell

Feb 16, 2005

OUTCOME: Plaintiff's pleadings stricken for fraud on court

I was the appellate lawyer on a case in which the appeals court found no abuse of discrtion in the trial court's having stricken the pleadings of Diane Taylor, a realtor who had filed a multi-count, mu ... lti-defendant action involving several real estate transctions and who my wife/law partner, Karen Coolman Amlong, had shown the trial court that (in the language of the opinion): "1) She forged a warranty deed purporting to transfer a condominium unit that was the subject of the litigation from appellee Ronald N. Dubner, Trustee, to herself. She cut and pasted Dubner's signature on the deed. She falsified the signatures of the "witnesses" to Dubner's signature. She cut and pasted an Illinois notary seal and signature on the document. She falsified the notary's statement that Dubner had presented his Florida driver's license to the notary, was sworn, and signed the document. She falsified grantee information, the sale price, and the grantee phone number on the deed. She recorded the deed in the public records. "2) Taylor executed a fraudulent form DR-219 from the Florida Department of Revenue indicating that Dubner had transferred the property to her for a price of $100.00. "3) Taylor fabricated and recorded a fraudulent Form UCC-1 financing statement which purported to give 51% ownership of appellee Sera Martell Realty, Inc. to a company owned by Taylor. The financing statement secured a claimed debt of $510,000, which the trial court found was close to the amount Taylor sought in a conversion count of her lawsuit. Taylor conceded that her intent in filing the document 'was to cloud the title of Sera Martell Realty, Inc., so that somehow [she] could either secure or get paid $510,000.' "4) Taylor did not 'know how [her] signature got affixed' to documents relating to a condominium unit that she denied purchasing. However, when confronted with the originals, she was forced to concede that she had signed the documents. "5) Taylor claimed that a quitclaim deed purporting to transfer a condominium unit from her to Sera Martell had been fabricated and that she was the rightful owner of the unit. The trial judge found that Taylor had signed the original of the deed that Taylor claimed was a fabrication." The appeal was a breeze, the real heavy lifting having been done in the trial court.

Discrimination

Selim v. Pan American Airways Corp.

Dec 08, 2004

OUTCOME: Reversed summary judgment based ALPA arbitration

Shahir Selim was an Egyptian Arab who worked as a first officer for Pan American Airways Corp. He pursued several complaints about unfair treatment by Pan Am through both the grievance procedure under ... the collective bargaining agreement between Pan Am and the Airline Pilots Association and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations. Selim largely prevailed on the grievances, and pursued additional remedies in state court pursuant to the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 and the Florida Whistleblower's Act for discrimination and retaliation. The trial court granted a motion to dismiss/motion for summary judgment based on Pan Am's claims of res judicata,collateral estoppel and preemption by the Railway Labor Act. The appeals court rejected those claims, held that arbitration held pursuant to the ALPA collective bargaiing agreement did not estop Selim and that the Railway Labor Act did not preempt his claims under Florida's discrimination and retaliation statutes. The appeals court reversed the trial court and remanded the action for trial, which is still pending.

Sexual harassment

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton

Jun 26, 1998

OUTCOME: Sex harassment judgment affirmed by Supreme Court

Beth Ann Faragher, an ocean lifeguard for the City of Boca Raton, and a co-worker, Nancy Ewanchew, complained about sexul harassment by the Marine Safety Chief and a lifeguard captain. The two women s ... uffered groping, propositions, and the vilest of sexual epithets to refer to them and other women. Numerous other female lifeguards corroborated them. The trial court found for the plaintiffs, but the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed, saying that the City had no way of knowing of the harassment. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, held in 1998 that employers, such as the City of Boca Raton, who do not have in place a mechanism to combat harassment are liable to persons who are harassed by a first level (or higher) supervisor, even if there is no tangible job detriment such dismissal, a pay cut or a transer. While employees who unreasonably fail to avail themelves of an employer's efforts to prevent sexual harassment can be barred from recovery for behavior that merely creates a hostile environment, employers have no protection from liability for supervisory employees whose behavior causes a tangible job detriment. Courts have since extended the principle of Faragher to all forms of hostile-environment harassment. The case is published at 524 U.S. 775. An audio recording of the oral argument, as well as a text version of it, is available at http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1997/1997_97_282/argument/. Note: Beth Ann Faragher is now a lawyer practicing in Colorado. She was sworn into the Bar of the United States Supreme Court by day of the oral argument in her case.

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