Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Richard Dent, sitting in the front left row, is watching his lawyer Paul G. Neylan claim in the Illinois Supreme Court. Dent seeks to identify the sexual harassment whistleblower so that he can file a defamation claim.
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Supreme Court proceedings focus on whether the former Super Bowl MVP has the right to identify the woman who accused him of sexual harassment. Exelon Co., Ltd.
Richard Dent, Defensive Lineman of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Chicago Bears from 1983 to 1993, is the owner of RLD Resources LLC, which specializes in energy products and services. According to court documents, RLD is Constellation New Energy Inc. And has several energy supply and marketing contracts with affiliates. Constellation is a subsidiary of Exelon.
However, Dent’s lawyer, led by in-house lawyer Paul G. Neylan, terminated these contracts on October 1, 2018, after Dent met two Constellation lawyers on September 14, 2018. Insisted. Subject to sexual harassment complaints by female employees of the Constellation.
A letter sent by Constellation to Dent’s lawyer in December 2018 said, “Mr. Dent denied the allegations, but his denial was unreliable, and the investigation found that the report at least violated Exelon’s norms. We conclude that it accurately describes business behavior that completely deviates from socially accepted norms of behavior and insults Constellation employees. “
Here, the court is a witness that separates the employee identified as Person A in the Dent’s court petition from the “drunk and chaotic” behavior of the Dent in a location other than the alleged harassment. You will be asked to determine if it is (identified as person B). Protected by the court’s principle of “qualified privilege”, it recognizes anonymity in sexual harassment cases.
Dent’s lawyer claimed that he had the right to know the identities and locations of Person A and Person B through pre-trial discovery. This is because their remarks were false and defamatory. His lawyer claimed that the individual, not the constellation, was the issuer of the defamation claim.
Constellation lawyers argued that employees need to remain anonymous as they made statements as part of a privileged and confidential workplace investigation into sexual harassment.
Specifically, Person A claimed that Dent said she had a “sister-like ass” on a golf tour sponsored by the 2016 Constellation. Later, according to court documents, Dent groped for a woman at a pre-golf outing party at the Shedd Aquarium in July 2018.
Witness B, quoted by the Constellation, reportedly noticed that Dent was “drunk and chaotic” while picking up golf equipment at a nearby Marriott hotel at an event related to going out in 2018. However, it is different from the place where the harassment occurred.
Former Chicago Bears great Richard Dent was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Dent’s petition also seeks the identity of Person C, who his legal team submitted to court as an “investigator” investigating allegations of harassment on behalf of the Constellation.
Constellation lawyers said in their proceedings that the investigators were actually Grace Speights and Theos McKinney, two lawyers who spoke to Dent during the September 14, 2018 meeting.
Constellation lawyers claimed that Dent now knows the identities of Person C and can file defamation proceedings against them and later seek out the identities of Persons A and B.
However, Dent’s team will be considered by the court because McKinney and Spitz did not identify themselves as Dent’s investigators at the meeting and did not know the identity of Person C when the petition was filed with the court. He said it was out of range.
“To report workplace harassment to employers using the employee’s qualified privileges, Constellation revealed more facts than it revealed at the September 2018 meeting, and in December 2018. I had to have more facts than I said in the letter, “said Neilan.
The case began in 2019 at the Cook County Circuit Court in favor of the Constellation. However, the First District Court of Appeals upheld Dent, and the Constellation’s legal team challenged the Supreme Court.
J. Timothy Eaton, a lawyer for the Tuft Stettinius and Hollister LLP Constellation, said in an oral argument Wednesday that the Constellation was a suspect and witness.
“This court must balance the potential defamation of plaintiffs with the right to remedy and the risk of setting standards to prove abuse of privileges.
Eaton said the fact that Dent denied the allegations was not sufficient to overcome the qualified privileges, as Dent did not provide the fact that Dent was done “maliciously”. ..
However, Judge Rita B. Garman can “get enough information” to allow someone in the dent position to “overcome” the qualified privileges if the whistleblower remains unidentified. I was wondering.
Eaton reiterated that the court had to balance the rights of the victims who were obliged to keep confidential in the interview and the rights of the dent to remedy.
“Survey shows that less than 14 percent of workplace sexual harassment victims report harassment in the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace,” he said. “Most of them do not report because they are afraid of retaliation, and because confidentiality concerns are part of the reason they do not come forward to complain.”
More than 30 organizations, including ACLU Illinois, Employed Women, and the National Women’s Justice Center, have submitted brief explanations to support the Constellation’s allegations.
Dent’s team filed with the court that the contract was voluntary and the constellation could have protected the identities of persons A, B, and C by terminating the contract without mentioning sexual harassment. bottom. According to court filings, their failure to do so means that “the actions of the constellations deny their own warnings” regarding the fear of retaliation.
Supreme Court considers whether Bears’ Super Bowl MVP has the right to know the accuser’s identity | News
Source link Supreme Court considers whether Bears’ Super Bowl MVP has the right to know the accuser’s identity | News
The post Supreme Court considers whether Bears’ Super Bowl MVP has the right to know the accuser’s identity | News appeared first on Illinois News Today.
No comments:
Post a Comment