Trials & Litigation
Appeals Court Raps ‘Sophie’s Choice’ Given NJ Plaintiff and Caregiver
Posted Apr 2, 2009, 05:55 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A New Jersey judge erred when he gave a plaintiff a "Sophie's Choice" between pursuing her sex discrimination case against a former employer and caring for her mortally ill 89-year-old father in Florida, a state appellate court has held.
It reinstated the case brought by plaintiff Linda Pangione, which Ocean County Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Brien had dismissed, and remanded it for a trial date, reports the New Jersey Law Journal.
O'Brien had reasoned that it was now or never for the case, which had been plagued by a series of delays, to go to trial. But Appellate Division Judges Thomas Lyons and Alexander Waugh Jr. reasoned differently, the legal publication reports:
"At the time of trial, this plaintiff was faced with a 'Sophie's Choice.' She could have abandoned her 89-year-old seriously ill father in Florida to pursue this litigation, or she could have stayed to care for him and his affairs and see any chance of any adjudication of this litigation on the merits evaporate," the two recount in their Tuesday written opinion. "Such a situation was unfortunate, special, and avoidable. It merits a solution short of dismissal with prejudice in light of the judiciary's fundamental principles."
The case is Pangione v. Floral Expressions Inc.