Morrison v. Scotia Capital Inc.

Background

Emily Morrison asserted employment-related claims against Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. and Jake Lawrence. Lawrence moved to dismiss the claims against him under the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, and the New York Labor Law, arguing lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Scotia moved to dismiss certain claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and sought judgment on the pleadings, a procedure for deciding a claim based on the pleadings without a trial.

Rulings on Lawrence’s motion

The court granted Lawrence’s motion to dismiss in full. It dismissed Counts 3 and 4, Morrison’s New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law claims against Lawrence, because the allegations did not show sufficient impact in New York under Hoffman v. Parade Publications. It also dismissed Count 6, Morrison’s New York Labor Law claim against Lawrence, based on the presumption against extraterritoriality.

Rulings on Scotia’s motion

The court denied Scotia’s motion to dismiss Counts 3 and 4. It held that Morrison’s allegations against Scotia met the Hoffman standard. The court granted Scotia’s motion to dismiss Count 6, Morrison’s New York Labor Law claim against Scotia, based on the presumption against extraterritoriality.

The court dismissed Morrison’s failure-to-promote claims as either time-barred or lacking legal merit. It denied Scotia’s motion to dismiss Morrison’s Title VII hostile-work-environment claim on the merits. It denied dismissal of Morrison’s Title VII retaliation claim to the extent the claim concerned conduct within the 300-day limitations period. It granted Scotia’s motion to dismiss Morrison’s pay-discrimination claims based on events before January 24, 2018, and granted dismissal of Morrison’s Equal Pay Act claim. It denied the motion to dismiss Morrison’s Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law claim.

Conference

The court granted the defendants’ request to adjourn the September 28 conference. The conference was rescheduled for October 4 at 11:00 a.m. in Courtroom 23A. The court stated that it would provide fuller reasons for its determinations on the record at that conference.

Classification note

This is a procedural order under the stated classification convention because it primarily rules on motions to dismiss and judgment on the pleadings, including threshold issues such as jurisdiction, territorial reach, and limitations, even though the court also described some rulings as being on the merits.