Thea was a single woman in her early 30’s, working at a tavern and bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The tavern owner, a married male in his 50’s, had a reputation as a womanizer and a drunk. Thea knew these things about her boss, but she needed her paycheck plus tips. One day, Thea was working a double shift. At the start of the evening shift, she noticed that the owner was already hammered, so she did her best to not be in the same room with him. However, the kitchen and gangway area were crowded, so seeing and being seen by the owner were inevitable. At one point, laughing, the owner grabbed Thea’s blouse and pulled it up exposing her stomach and undergarments to other staff.

Furious, Thea pulled herself away from the owner and told him to “stop it.” Later in the evening, Thea was out on the loading dock on a break smoking a cigarette. The owner approached her outside. There was no one else present. The passageway was narrow. The owner’s presence prevented Thea from getting away. When Thea tried to move past him, the owner grabbed her, held her tightly, and started kissing her on the lips. Thea struggled to get away, yelling at the owner to let her go. He wouldn’t. Instead, he stuck his tongue down her throat. Thea gagged and fought and clawed her way out of the owner’s grasp, ran back to the kitchen, quickly told her girlfriend what had happened and why she looked like a mess, and clocked out for the night. The next day, the owner called Thea and apologized to her for anything he did while he was under the influence of booze. He said he didn’t recall a thing. Thea was not impressed.

She hired this office to file an immediate Superior Court civil action for damages under the NJ Law Against Discrimination, for employment discrimination, on the grounds that the owner did these things because Thea was a woman, for battery (unwanted touching), for pain and suffering (Thea underwent counseling for PTSD), punitive damages, and for counsel fees and costs. It turned out the owner had a significant Employment Practices Liability Insurance policy that covered these events. After some discovery and substantial negotiations, the case settled for the full value of the insurance policy.