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Kathryn Brennan, a Victim of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination

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KATHRYN BRENNAN, Plaintiff, -against- BALLY TOTAL FITNESS, Defendant.

01 Civ. 533 (SAS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

198 F. Supp. 2d 377; 2002 U.S. Dist. January 2, 2002, Decided
January 3, 2002, Filed

DISPOSITION: [**1] Defendant 's motion to compel Brennan to arbitrate denied. Brennan 's cross-motion to strike the defense of arbitration and stay arbitration granted.

COUNSEL: For Plaintiff: Mona C. Engel, Esq., Law Offices of Robert F. Danzi, Westbury, New York. For Defendant: Jed L. Marcus, Esq., Gotta, Glassman & Hoffman, P.A., Roseland, New Jersey.

JUDGES: SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, U.S.D.J.

OPINIONBY: SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN

OPINION: [*378] OPINION AND ORDER …show more content…

Infante interviewed Brennan and asked her to write out a statement of her complaint in front of him. See id. Infante did not provide Brennan with a copy of her complaint or his interview notes. See id.

Bally took no remedial action against Senal, nor did it take any steps to prevent further harassment of Brennan. See Compl. P 16. Therefore, to avoid Senal, in July 1998 Brennan transferred to the Bally facility in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, which required a demotion, pay cut, and extra travel time and expenses. See id. P 17. Her complaint of sexual harassment, however, remained pending on the basis of her allegations of ongoing sexual harassment by managers at the Bensonhurst facility. See Brennan I, 153 F. Supp. 2d at 413 n.11.

In December 1998, while working at the Bally facility in Bensonhurst, Brennan received a fax requiring her [**5] attendance at an educational meeting about sexual harassment to be held at the Sheepshead Bay facility (the "1998 Meeting" or "Meeting"). See Brennan Aff. P 8; Tr. at 12. About twenty Bally employees attended the meeting. See Tr. at 14. At the meeting, the employees were shown a video depicting incidents of sexual harassment. See Brennan Aff. P 9; Tr. at 16. Fred Infante, the Bally attorney who had investigated Brennan 's complaint earlier that year, ran the meeting. See Brennan Aff. P 9; Tr. at 15.

As soon as the video ended, Infante distributed a sixteen-page, single-spaced document that he described as containing procedures for

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