A new lawsuit filed against litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel claims the firm participated in racial discrimination, failed to adequately protect the alleged victim, and then fired him.
The plaintiff is Nicholas Mondelo, a Hispanic-American of Spanish origin, who in 2015 served as Quinn Emanuel’s IT director for its East Coast and Midwest operations and was later demoted to overseeing only the firm’s New York office. Mondelo claims he one of the only Hispanics in the firm’s IT department, and that he was allegedly “subjected to a constant stream of harassment, ridicule, and abuse” from defendant David Eskanos, the firm’s former chief information officer. According to the complaint, Eskanos referred to Mondelo using a racist slur related to his Spanish heritage. Mondelo then reported Eskanos to human resources, and two partners who are both named as defendants — Peter Calamari, the then-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s New York office, and Richard Schirtzer, the then-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office — were assigned to act as a “buffer” between him and Eskanos. The American Lawyer has more details:
That arrangement allegedly continued until March 2018, when Calamari stepped down from his role leading the New York office and allegedly told Mondelo he would no longer be serving as a buffer. Around the same time, the firm hired a new East Coast IT leader and stripped Mondelo of his authority over the firm’s Chicago and Washington, D.C., offices, leaving just New York under his purview.
While working under the new intermediary, Mondelo felt that he was being set up by Eskanos to botch the rollout of a new software system in New York, according to the complaint. He ultimately had a breakdown and was committed to the Jersey City Medical Center in May 2019, after which he was fired by the firm.
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Mondelo claims he was involuntarily committed a second time on the same day he lost his job with the firm, and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. According to the complaint, Mondelo has been unable to secure new job since the time of his firing and was hospitalized in January 2020 after attempting suicide.
A Quinn Emanuel spokesperson said of the lawsuit: “We are disappointed that Mr. Mondelo has chosen to take this action. His claims are without merit.”
Read the full complaint below.
[pdfjs-viewer url=”https://abovethelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/03/mondelo-v-quinn-emanuel-filed-complaint-21-cv-2512-1.pdf”]
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Ex-IT Manager Sues Quinn Emanuel for Racial Discrimination [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.