Jonathan E. Meer

Jonathan Meer (Partner-New York, NY) and Angela Sekerka (Of Counsel-White Plains, NY) secured a no probable cause determination for a landlord client in a housing discrimination matter before the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. The complainant tenant alleged that our client/respondent discriminated against her based on disability and source of income, as well as claiming retaliation. The investigation established that the respondent lacked knowledge of the complainant’s physical disability and determined that the only request for reasonable accommodation by the complainant included documentation exclusively supporting the need for an emotional support animal (ESA). The complainant, however, asserted that she requested accommodation for a severe breathing disorder, while our client maintained that no such request or medical documentation of a respiratory condition was ever received. While the complainant successfully obtained accommodation for her mental health needs, no evidence supported the existence of a formal request concerning a physical breathing disability. The investigation concluded that the respondent did not treat the complainant differently from other tenants or subject her to harassment based on her disability or source of income.

Jim Thurston (Partner-Chicago, IL), Melissa Murphy-Petros (Partner-Chicago, IL) and Jonathan Meer (Partner-New York, NY) prevailed on behalf of the firm’s insurance client in a case involving an insured closely held family corporation that sought coverage under its D&O policy for a declaratory judgment action seeking enforcement of the stock transfer provisions in its shareholders’ agreements. The Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of the plaintiff’s complaint on the ground that the policy’s contract exclusion precluded coverage because the declaratory judgment action – although not an action for breach of contract – arose out of the insured’s contractual obligations under the shareholder agreements. Jim and Jonathan secured the dismissal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Jim and Melissa handled the Second Circuit briefing, and Melissa presented oral argument.  Jim and Melissa are now 8-1 before the U.S. Court of Appeals, where they have handled matters in the First, Second, and Ninth Circuits.

The appeal was covered by Law360 in their June 22, 2023, December 5, 2023, March 22, 2024, March 27, 2024, June 17, 2024 articles.

Jonathan Meer (Partner-New York, NY) successfully defended a hotel operator in connection with a claim of discrimination based on race, national origin, disability and retaliation by a former housekeeper employee before the New York State Division of Human Rights (NYS DHR). DHR’s investigation found that, even assuming the housekeeper had a disability (general malaise), our client provided her an accommodation by allowing her to get a COVID-19 test and does not reflect that any discriminatory animus existed. In terms of the alleged discrimination based on race and national origin, the DHR noted that the “Complainant has not articulated how she was discriminated against because she is Hispanic and Salvadorian when everyone she worked with was as well.” It also noted that there “is nothing alleged that could have been interpreted as being engaged in a protected activity.” The DHR concluded that it found “no evidence of a discriminatory or retaliatory animus present in any of the respondent’s actions as alleged by the complainant” and dismissed all the claims against Wilson Elser’s client.