Herman v. Coastal Corporation2/13/2002
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Argued: October 24, 2001
Plaintiff, Jennifer Herman, (references to plaintiff are to Jennifer Herman only) filed suit against her employer, Coastal Eagle Point Oil Company (CEPOC), a subsidiary of the Coastal Corporation (Coastal), the corporation itself, and several of the company's employees, Jack Lipinski, Rich Lowery, Bill Smith, Mark Anderson, Ernie Smith, James Soden, and Mark Schools, alleging sexual harassment and sexual discrimination against her based on marital status and pregnancy, breach of her employment agreement, and subsequent to the filing of the initial complaint, retaliation and a hostile work environment in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to - 42. Her husband George filed a per quod claim for loss of consortium.
Plaintiffs' complaint was ultimately dismissed on summary judgment following the entry of a succession of orders which included: (1) Judge Little's April 14, 1997 order granting defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the husband's loss of consortium claim, plaintiff's claims of breach of her implied and express employment contract, discrimination against her based on marital status and pregnancy, and all claims against defendant Jim Soden, head operator and trainer of the Sulfulane Recovery Unit, who the judge concluded was not plaintiff's supervisor; the motion was denied as to Jack Lipinski, Plant Manager; (2) Judge Colalillo's September 26, 1997 order granting summary judgment as to Mark Schools, a co-worker in the Sulfulane Recovery Unit; the motion denied was as to supervisor of operations, Ernie Smith, and the employee relations manager Bill Smith; (3) Judge Snyder's October 23, 1998 order granting the remaining defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff's entire second amended complaint alleging sexual discrimination and sexual harassment and finding that plaintiff was not subject to a hostile work environment as claimed against her individual supervisors, Mark Anderson, Jack Lipinski, Ernie Smith, Bill Smith, and Rich Lowery, and alleging malicious breach of employment agreement by the employer; and (4) Judge Snyder's February 10, 1999 order denying reconsideration which requested vacation of all prior orders granting summary judgment.
On appeal, plaintiff raises the following arguments for our consideration:
I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT PLAINTIFF WAS NOT SUBJECT TO A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT IN VIOLATION OF THE LAD.
II. THE LAW DIVISION ERRED IN GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT TO THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS UNDER THE LAD.
III. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN DISMISSING PLAINTIFF, GEORGE HERMAN'S CAUSE OF ACTION FOR LOSS OF CONSORTIUM BASED ON COMMON LAW CLAIMS.
After careful review of the entire record and in light of the applicable law, we are persuaded that the complaint was properly dismissed as to all defendants and affirm.
I.
Ordinarily, we would recapitulate the facts in a light most favorable to plaintiff, relying on the support for plaintiff's various statements in the record as cited in plaintiff's brief. We are unable to do so here because the citations to the record in plaintiff's brief do not support plaintiff's allegations. We have, therefore, summarized the facts in a light most favorable to plaintiffs, but on what the record actually supports.
Plaintiff was hired by Coastal on September 21, 1987, to work at CEPOC. On July 2, 1989, plaintiff married George Herman. At that time, both plaintiffs were employed by CEPOC in the Catalytic Reformer Unit (CRU). CEPOC's Employment of R
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