“No man is above the law and no man below it”
— Theodore Roosevelt
Civil Rights Law protects the rights of people to allow them to fully participate in life and in the state free from discrimination and oppression. Civil Rights Law protects the freedom of people from the unwanted and illegal infringement of their rights by government or other entities.
The Civil Rights Lawyers at Pardalis & Nohavicka, LLP are dedicated and proud to protect the rights of employees in New York City. Our lawyers are committed to helping ordinary people in legal struggles with powerful entities. Our lawyers represent a myriad of clients in Civil Rights litigation throughout New York City and The United States. Our goal is to level the playing field for the regular person in claims involving Discrimination, The Freedoms and Police Misconduct.
Discrimination
Our attorneys are experts in litigating discrimination claims based on race, religion, gender, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.
In a recent matter our firm represented an employee who was targeted by his employer and discriminated against on multiple levels. Our client a homosexual, Jewish/African-American was discriminated against by his employer for not only his race and religion but his sexual orientation as well. Our clients manager also a homosexual would constantly make unwelcome sexual advances. When these advances were rejected the manager turned hostile and over a period of time abused our client based on his race and religion. When our client complained to upper level management he was terminated and further discriminated against by the head of the organization. Our firm initiated litigation and obtained a swift and favorable result for the client.
In another recent matter our firm represented a woman terminated from her company as a result of becoming pregnant. The employer terminated our client the morning after she announced her pregnancy to the company. During the course of the litigation PN partner Joseph D. Nohavicka clearly showed that the client was nothing but a stellar employee receiving constant commendation for her work as well as substantial bonuses compared to her peers. All of this ended less than 24 hours after she announced her pregnancy. The matter ended in a large settlement figure in favor of our client.
The Freedoms
We further represent individuals in Civil Rights matters dealing with privacy such as free speech, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of thought and freedom of the press.
Our firm is currently representing the Plaintiffs in Samantha Stotts and Sharie Johnson v. Jim Jones and E1 Entertainment . Samantha and Sharie, two Houston, Texas natives were on vacation in Miami, Florida. While on a private hotel beach they were sunbathing topless. Little did they know that they were being video recorded by rap-artist Jim Jones and Posse. Once back home in Texas the girls discovered that not only were they video recorded but that their images were used in Jim Jones’ new rap video “Summertime” and further that their unauthorized image was being used to promote Jones’ soon to be released album “CAPO”.
Pardalis & Nohavicka, LLP filed suit in The Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County under New York Civil Rights Law §50 and New York Civil Rights Law §51 and New York tort law for conversion, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, for defendants’ active commercial marketing of semi-nude video footage of Plaintiffs used for purposes of promoting a record and other media releases, without plaintiffs’ explicit written authorization as required. Below are media links providing an analysis of this Civil Rights matter.
The New York Daily News
Artisan News Video
Jim Jones response video
Police Misconduct
Unconstitutional police misconduct and police abuse victims may also be entitles to damages against the government through Civil Rights Law. Civil Rights lawsuits are designed to hold accountable and punish the abuse of power by police and other public and quasi-public officials and organizations.
The Civil Rights lawyers at Pardalis & Nohavicka, LLP handle a wide array of police misconduct and abuse claims including police brutality, police harassment, excessive force, false arrest claims, warrantless search and seizure, illegal search and seizure, illegal strip searches and malicious prosecution. Our firm also handles Section 1983 claims against the New York Police Department (NYPD), Section 1983 claims against the City of New York.
Pardalis & Nohavicka, LLP is a New York City commercial and business law firm specializing in Discrimination, Freedom of Speech/Expression/Press and Police Misconduct cases. in the Federal Trial Courts as well as the Trial Courts for the City and State of New York. Feel free to contact our trial team with any questions at 718.777.0400 or by E-mail.