The evidence in the case against Time Warner Cable Inc. seemed damning. At a company picnic, a doctored photo of an employee—a well-known New York television reporter—had been passed around, showing her with enlarged breasts. Worse, the incident was captured on tape, and the company had taken no formal action against the coworker who posted the photo.
Ultimately, the reporter, Adele Sammarco, was fired for allegedly poor performance after complaining about this and other incidents. But after nearly nine years in litigation and two weeks at trial, jurors in federal district court took just 40 minutes to clear the company of all sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation claims. Time Warner chief labor counsel Kevin Smith credits Proskauer Rose’s Bettina Plevan, who was roped in just two months before trial, with the win. “It was not just about trial skills, but having counsel who would handle a notorious case responsibly,” Smith says, “and who would do nothing in public that would come back to haunt us.”
