Greenberg Traurig and Francine Griesing, the former shareholder who sued the firm in a proposed $200 million gender-discrimination class action last year, have agreed to enter mediation in an attempt to resolve their claims, the parties told a Philadelphia federal judge Wednesday. A joint motion to stay the case for 70 days through May 6 was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania matter Greenberg Traurig v. Griesing. That case was filed by Greenberg Traurig around the same time Griesing filed her proposed class action complaint, Griesing v. Greenberg Traurig, in the Southern District of New York. Greenberg Traurig has asked the Philadelphia court to remove the case to arbitration, which it argued was required under its shareholder agreement.
Griesing has argued in both Philadelphia and New York that arbitration is not warranted and that it should be the New York judge to decide the matter. A hearing on that issue was scheduled for today before U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley of the Southern District of New York. In their motion to stay the Pennsylvania matter, the parties said they were filing a similar, informal application with Pauley to stay the New York action.
