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Much Shelist Wins Summary Judgment for Wendy's on $1.2 Million Sexual Harassment Case
Anne E. Larson, Chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment practice group, won summary judgment on March 7, 2008, for Wendy's International, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) on all claims in Caen v. Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc., a case pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The plaintiff, a 17-year old minor employee at the time of the incident, alleged that she was sexually harassed and forced to submit to nonconsensual sex by an assistant manager at the Wendy's store in Commack, New York. During the pendency of the case, the plaintiff made a $1.2 million settlement demand and gave media interviews, which resulted in articles about the lawsuit—the alleged harassment of a minor and forcible compulsion—in Newsday and the New York Post.
Despite the media attention, Wendy's won summary judgment and avoided a costly trial and attorney fee award for the plaintiff. Because judgment was entered in favor of Wendy's, costs were recently taxed against the plaintiff, so the judgment now requires the plaintiff to reimburse Wendy's for the costs it incurred in defending her claims.
The case was initially filed as a class action. In addition to the recent summary judgment that the firm won on the plaintiff's individual claims, a Much Shelist team achieved dismissal of the nationwide sexual harassment class action portion of the case in 2007.
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