U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams on Wednesday dismissed Cooper’s claims that her employer, Franklin Templeton, wrongfully fired and defamed her. The investment firm fired Cooper in May 2020, shortly after the highly publicized incident in Central Park. The company tweeted about her termination on May 26, 2020, saying “We do not tolerate racism of any kind.” In May 2021, Cooper sued Franklin Templeton, alleging both racial and ethnic discrimination in her termination. The judge rejected those claims in a 17-page ruling on Wednesday. In the lawsuit, Cooper had alleged that Franklin Templeton had treated her differently than three male employees who had engaged in misconduct ranging from insider trading to domestic violence. But Abrams ruled that the cases were not similar enough to show bias, in part because Cooper herself described her incident as “international news as a racial flashpoint.” Cooper “cannot reasonably claim that she was subjected to a ‘company-wide double standard’ simply by identifying three male comparators who engaged in some — other — form of misconduct but were not similarly terminated,” Abrams wrote. Attorneys for Cooper did not return requests for comment. In her lawsuit, Cooper said she was an “excellent employee” at the company, where she worked from 2015 until she was fired in 2020. The filing said she had earned high performance bonuses in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Cooper said her firing had resulted in a “significant loss of earnings and benefits.” Her claim alleged that Franklin Templeton should provide her with “back pay and bonuses, loss of uninvested capital and other benefits, back pay or restitution, emotional distress damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and interest and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial .”
It did not meet the threshold for defamation
Abrams said that Franklin Templeton’s statements about Cooper, such as his tweet that “we do not tolerate racism,” did not meet the threshold for defamation, in part because those comments did not imply that they knew anything more than what was already available. to the public about the meeting. “The incident received heightened media and public scrutiny, particularly because it occurred ‘amidst a national reckoning with systemic racism,’” the judge wrote, noting that Cooper’s incident occurred on the same day as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. . He added, “The content of the viral video, as well as the discourse surrounding it in both the media and social media, were already matters of public knowledge when [Franklin Templeton’s] May 26th tweet posted.” In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Franklin Templeton said: “We are pleased the court dismissed the lawsuit. We continue to believe the company responded appropriately.”
Phone call to 911
The incident was sparked when Cooper called the police after a Black bird watcher in Central Park, Christian Cooper (no relation to Amy Cooper), asked her to keep her dog on a leash in an area of the park where a leash is required. In response, she called 911 and repeatedly identified Christian Cooper from his tribe, demanding that the dispatcher “send the cops right away” and falsely accusing him of threatening her life. Christian Cooper captured the verbal altercation on video, which went viral and became part of the national conversation about race during the Black Lives Matter movement sparked by Floyd’s murder.
Trending News
title: " Central Park Karen Amy Cooper Loses Lawsuit Claiming She Was Wrongfully Fired " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-24” author: “Clark Ricker”
U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams on Wednesday dismissed Cooper’s claims that her employer, Franklin Templeton, wrongfully fired and defamed her. The investment firm fired Cooper in May 2020, shortly after the highly publicized incident in Central Park. The company tweeted about her termination on May 26, 2020, saying “We do not tolerate racism of any kind.” In May 2021, Cooper sued Franklin Templeton, alleging both racial and ethnic discrimination in her termination. The judge rejected those claims in a 17-page ruling on Wednesday. In the lawsuit, Cooper had alleged that Franklin Templeton had treated her differently than three male employees who had engaged in misconduct ranging from insider trading to domestic violence. But Abrams ruled that the cases were not similar enough to show bias, in part because Cooper herself described her incident as “international news as a racial flashpoint.” Cooper “cannot reasonably claim that she was subjected to a ‘company-wide double standard’ simply by identifying three male comparators who engaged in some — other — form of misconduct but were not similarly terminated,” Abrams wrote. Attorneys for Cooper did not return requests for comment. In her lawsuit, Cooper said she was an “excellent employee” at the company, where she worked from 2015 until she was fired in 2020. The filing said she had earned high performance bonuses in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Cooper said her firing had resulted in a “significant loss of earnings and benefits.” Her claim alleged that Franklin Templeton should provide her with “back pay and bonuses, loss of uninvested capital and other benefits, back pay or restitution, emotional distress damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and interest and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial .”
It did not meet the threshold for defamation
Abrams said that Franklin Templeton’s statements about Cooper, such as his tweet that “we do not tolerate racism,” did not meet the threshold for defamation, in part because those comments did not imply that they knew anything more than what was already available. to the public about the meeting. “The incident received heightened media and public scrutiny, particularly because it occurred ‘amidst a national reckoning with systemic racism,’” the judge wrote, noting that Cooper’s incident occurred on the same day as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. . He added, “The content of the viral video, as well as the discourse surrounding it in both the media and social media, were already matters of public knowledge when [Franklin Templeton’s] May 26th tweet posted.” In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Franklin Templeton said: “We are pleased the court dismissed the lawsuit. We continue to believe the company responded appropriately.”
Phone call to 911
The incident was sparked when Cooper called the police after a Black bird watcher in Central Park, Christian Cooper (no relation to Amy Cooper), asked her to keep her dog on a leash in an area of the park where a leash is required. In response, she called 911 and repeatedly identified Christian Cooper from his tribe, demanding that the dispatcher “send the cops right away” and falsely accusing him of threatening her life. Christian Cooper captured the verbal altercation on video, which went viral and became part of the national conversation about race during the Black Lives Matter movement sparked by Floyd’s murder.
