Wednesday, April 20, 2022

20 April 2022: Cuomo Attorney Wants Retaliation Claims Dropped from NY State Trooper's Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Andrew Cuomo’s lawyer wants 2 retaliation claims tossed from NY state trooper’s sex harassment suit

Andrew M. Cuomo's personal attorney, Rita Glavin, is seeking to have two claims of retaliation against Cuomo dropped from the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a female New York State trooper against Cuomo.

If you recall from the timeline, those claims were earned earlier this year by Cuomo's PR team. This report covers Cuomo's legal team's effort to avoid having to pay a larger price in the upcoming civil litigation.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants a judge to toss two claims in a sexual harassment suit filed against him by a New York state trooper.

Cuomo’s lawyer Rita Glavin says her client couldn’t have retaliated against the trooper because he was not governor when she filed her sexual harassment lawsuit, according to legal papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday.

The trooper sued Cuomo in February, alleging he made unwelcome sexual advances while she was working on his personal security detail. She also accused Cuomo of retaliation against her by threatening “criminal charges against his victims and ethics charges against their attorneys,” and claims Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, retaliated against her by calling her suit a “cheap cash extortion.”

Glavin said the two retaliation claims should be tossed because the trooper “does not remotely come close” to proving them.

The trooper’s lawyer Valdi Licul says otherwise.

“The former governor’s proposed motion is baseless. Our discrimination laws protect victims who have the courage to speak out about sexual harassment,” Liculi said.

Liculi’s client, who is only identified as “Trooper 1” in her legal documents, alleges the governor “violated” her multiple times after she was transferred to his security unit in January 2018.

For more background, here's previous coverage from the timeline:

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