Regulation Corporations
‘Misogynistic’ McElroy Deutsch defamed and retaliated in opposition to former govt, amended go well with alleges
McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter’s former director of enterprise {and professional} growth has stated she did nothing incorrect when she used company card factors for private journey. But she was fired in April. Picture from Shutterstock.
A fired govt at McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter has come out swinging in an amended countersuit claiming that the legislation agency retaliated in opposition to her and made unwarranted assumptions when it accused her of being conscious of her husband’s alleged embezzlement.
Nicole Alexander, a lawyer who was the agency’s former director of enterprise {and professional} growth, stated she did nothing incorrect when she used American Categorical company card factors for private journey. But she was fired in April on the similar time that the agency accused her husband, former McElroy Deutsch chief monetary officer John Dunlea, of misappropriating greater than $3.2 million from the agency over a interval of 10 years.
On the time, the agency said it thought that Alexander was conscious of the embezzlement given “the couple’s lavish life-style,” in accordance with a lawsuit filed by McElroy Deutsch on June 27. The couple stay in a million-dollar house in Westfield, New Jersey, they usually “took costly holidays collectively, staying on the most interesting, most opulent motels on the planet,” the go well with stated.
Alexander’s amended countersuit stated she and her husband collectively earned greater than $700,000 per 12 months, she had a aspect enterprise accepted by the agency, and she or he “acquired a considerable inheritance in 2017.” She was not conscious on the time that her husband was nonetheless paying substantial alimony to his ex-wife. The couple have separate financial institution accounts, aside from a joint account used to pay their mortgage.
“This case entails the aggressive and relentless victimization of a lady, merely due to who she is married to and due to the perceived inappropriate life-style as judged by this misogynistic legislation agency,” Alexander’s amended countersuit stated.
“McElroy Deutsch discovered it simple to go after Ms. Alexander as they perceived her to be a legal responsibility, not due to who she was married to however due to their violations of the legislation that she was elevating within the months, weeks and days earlier than her termination.”
Law360 has protection of Alexander’s amended countersuit filed Sept. 1.
The amended go well with provides three counts to Alexander’s preliminary declare that McElroy Deutsch engaged in marital standing discrimination.
The amended go well with claims that the agency retaliated in opposition to Alexander for elevating issues concerning the agency’s poor statistics concerning ladies and minorities. She additionally discovered that male attorneys acquired substantial bonuses and raises, although she was informed that firmwide compensation was being diminished—together with a ten% lower to her compensation—due to poor agency efficiency in 2022, the go well with stated.
The agency solely invitations male attorneys to its annual golf outing in Pennsylvania and hosts conferences related to ABA boards to which little or no feminine attorneys have been invited, the go well with stated. As well as, the co-managing companion hosts a observe group vacation occasion to which no ladies have been ever invited.
Alexander additionally stated the agency defamed her when it accused her of spending $89,000 on a resort keep on the Resort Del Coronado in California, although she by no means used the agency bank card. And the agency wrongly accused her of spending agency cash on a birthday celebration in Paris, although she used her cash for the get together.
Alexander “is the sufferer of the agency’s vengeance in opposition to her husband,” her go well with stated.
One other rely alleges intentional infliction of emotional misery for wrongly characterizing Alexander’s “position within the misdeeds alleged in opposition to her husband,” the go well with stated. “In pursuing its vendetta in opposition to Mr. Dunlea, the agency has deliberately taken affirmative acts to destroy Ms. Alexander’s life.”
McElroy Deutsch normal counsel Lucille J. Karp and its lawyer within the litigation, Kevin H. Marino, didn’t instantly reply to e mail requests for remark by the ABA Journal.
