Judge Charles Siragusa
The court granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff Kleehammer’s hostile work environment and sexual harassment claims against them but allowed Kleehammer’s retaliation claims to go forward. At the time, the court had cautioned Agola, Kleehammer’s counsel, that she needed a good faith basis for pleading one particular retaliation claim, citing the fact that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 requires that all counsel make only those claims that are supported by a good faith factual basis. The court now sanctioned Agola, requiring her to pay a monetary sanction of $10,000. It determined that sworn allegations that Agola made in her Supplemental Declaration were false and that certain representations were made in subjective bad faith. The court also found that Agola knew that the representations were false and that she submitted them with a motive to mislead the court, so as to gain an advantage in the litigation by avoiding summary judgment. In determining the sanction, the court referred to its previous sanctions imposed on Agola in several other unrelated cases and held that a sanction of $10,000 is not more severe than reasonably necessary to deter repetition.