KEVIN MORRIS, ET AL. VS. RUTGERS-NEWARK UNIVERSITY, ET AL. (L-3280-17, ESSEX COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (CONSOLIDATED) (A-0582-21/A-0583-21)
The plaintiffs whose claims are implicated in these interlocutory cross-appeals were members of defendant Rutgers-Newark's 2014-15 women's basketball team. Four plaintiffs describe themselves as African-American and gay, one as African-American and bisexual, and the sixth as Hispanic and heterosexual. They claim they were retaliated against and subjected to a hostile environment in violation of the Law Against Discrimination by defendants because, among other things, their interim coach, defendant William Zasowski, referred to them as "dykes," and "nappy-headed sisters," and asked the team captain for the names of the team members who were gay and, when they complained and sought a school investigation, defendants retaliated. The trial judge granted in part and denied in part defendants' summary judgment motion.
The court concluded that the judge did not err in denying summary judgment on plaintiffs' hostile environment claims and did not err in denying summary judgment on the retaliation claims of two plaintiffs; the court held, however, that the judge erred in granting summary judgment on the retaliation claims of the other four plaintiffs. The court held that both the hostile environment and retaliation claims should be considered, not individually as argued by defendants, but in light of the fact that plaintiffs were members of small, tightly-knit group and that each plaintiff could rely on the experiences of the others even if they did not directly experience or witness defendants' alleged discriminatory comments and epithets, thereby distinguishing Godfrey v. Princeton Theological Seminary, 196 N.J. 178 (2008) in this setting.
