MON-L-002755-18 09/20/2018 5:42:21 PM Pg 1 of 8 Trans ID: LCV20181640065

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.

Ravi Sattiraju, Esq. (Attorney Id. No. 035251998)
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Fax: (609) 228-5649
Email: [email protected]
Attorneys for Plaintiff Nicholas Curcio

NICHOLAS CURCIO, SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

MONMOUTH COUNTY
Plaintiff, LAW DIVISION

v. DOCKET NO.: MON-L-2755-18

WALL TOWNSHIIP and WALL TOWNSHIP CIVIL ACTION

POLICE DEPARTMENT,

Defendant. FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT AND

JURY TRIAL DEMAND

Plaintiff Nicholas Curcio (hereinafter “Plaintiff”), by way of First Amended Complaint

against Defendants Wall Township and Wall Township Police Department, hereby alleges as

follows:

THE PARTIES

1. Plaintiff Nicholas Curcio, residing in Ocean County, New Jersey, was/has been

employed by Defendants at all times relevant to this matter.

2. Defendants, Wall Township and Wall Township Police Department (“WTPD”), are

public entities in the State of New Jersey that were Plaintiff’s employer as defined by the New

Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq.

VENUE

3. The Defendants are public entities residing in, and all underlying acts occurred in,

Monmouth County, and therefore venue is properly placed therein pursuant to R. 4:3-2(a)(2).
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SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS

4. Plaintiff, an olive-complexion skinned individual of Italian ancestry, was first

employed by Defendants in 1994 in the position of Dispatcher and most recently held the position

of Communications Supervisor before being placed on unpaid leave in August 2016.

5. Plaintiff suffered from numerous medical issues during his employment with

Defendants, including heart disease that required five (5) cardiac surgeries and which resulted in

Plaintiff having artificial parts placed in his heart.

6. In addition, Plaintiff suffers from Type I Diabetes, which has resulted in severe

discoloration of his legs.

7. Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, would subject Plaintiff

to a hostile work environment by mocking the discoloration Plaintiff suffered on his legs as a result

of his diabetes and generally because of his darker-skinned, Italian-American complexion.

8. Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, routinely called Plaintiff

names, including “half-black,” “black legs” and “you look like a black guy.”

9. The above racial slurs were part of a larger issue where Defendants’ employees,

including supervisory personnel, routinely used racial slurs against African-Americans including

the N-word.

10. In fact, Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, actively

condoned, participated in and encouraged a racist atmosphere and working environment at the

WTPD.

11. For example, Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, posted

racist drawings, depictions, images and other types of highly offensive documents at the WTPD.

12. One such image, attached hereto as Exhibit A, is a drawing depicting police

officers wearing Ku Klux Klan emblems on their uniforms happily waving at a just-married couple

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(the husband also being a police officer) dragging two dark-skinned men behind their “Just

Married” vehicle in place of traditional wedding cans.

13. The numbers on each of the white officers’ hats correspond to specific officer badge

numbers of white officers at the WTPD while the numbers next to the two dark-skinned men

correspond to specific officer badge numbers of dark-skinned officers at the WTPD.

14. Another example, attached hereto as Exhibit B, is a drawing depicting a Wall Twp.

Police patrol car occupied or “manned” by two individuals wearing the traditional Ku Klux Klan

uniform (i.e. white robes with hoods).

15. Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, also specifically targeted

Plaintiff by posting racist drawings, depictions, images and other types of highly offensive

documents at the WTPD. These included, as attached hereto as Exhibit C, the following:

a. A photograph of a young black man with a caption reading: “Nick Curcio’s

High School Senior Picture”;

b. An official looking Wall Township Police Department memorandum issued to

Plaintiff requesting an official appearance to explain his “whereabouts” on a

date in which “30 angry baboons killed a man out of revenge” in Uganda;

c. A “News Flash” indicating that Plaintiff’s employment with the Wall Township

Police had been terminated for “apparently” having a “second life” which

“included breaking & entering area Zoo’s [sic], and performing sexual acts with

chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans”; and

d. A photograph of two baby monkeys with a captioned identifying one of them

as Plaintiff.

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16. Over a period of many years, Defendants’ employees, including police personnel

and supervisory officers, continued to subject Plaintiff to a daily barrage of ridicule and insults

about his medical conditions, including, but not limited to the following:

a. Plaintiff was called “Monkey,” or some derivation thereof, on a daily basis to

ridicule the fact that he had artificial parts in his heart; and

b. Plaintiff was sent cards from his coworkers and supervisors making a mockery

of his medical condition with notes on purported get well cards (attached hereto

as Exhibits D1 and D2), which included the following statements:

i. “Guess your gonna need a new monkey heart. They should probably

replace it with a monkey brain while they’re at it.” (sic);

ii. “Maybe while your there they can give you a monkey dong!” (sic);

iii. “Does the monkey want his heart back?” (sic);

iv. “If they use a baboon heart, I guess your body won’t reject it” (sic);

v. “Your a dopey monkey” (sic);

vi. A specific reference to “spooks”; and

vii. The cards would have monkeys on them with stitches drawn on the

chests representing Plaintiff’s heart operations.

17. Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, would also subject

Plaintiff to a hostile work environment by drawing sexually explicit drawings on Plaintiff’s

whiteboard. Plaintiff was subjected to multiple drawings of ejaculating penises, which are attached

hereto as Exhibit E.

18. Defendants’ employees, including supervisory personnel, also created and

maintained a hostile work environment by posting sexually-explicit drawings, depictions, images

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and other types of highly offensive documents such as those attached hereto as Exhibit F, which

include:

a. An image of a man holding his penis to a child-looking individual and stating:

“Here, little Nicholas, eat it. Eat it damn it. I’ll fuck your toilet if you don’t”.

The child-looking individual responds: “No Dad, I can’t. My little baby mouth

can’t eat it.” The child-looking individual is also depicted as defecating; and

b. A photograph with a caption stating: “Pictured is the all-time Oscar Meyer

Weiner eating king, Nick Curcio … Nick is expected to consume close to 30

pounds of meat.”

19. In approximately 2016, after Plaintiff complained directly to the then-Wall

Township Chief of Police Robert Brice about the penis drawings, Chief Brice proceeded to

consistently call Plaintiff “Rat Boy” and/or “Rat.” Defendants, particularly Chief Brice, continued

to retaliate against Plaintiff for these protected complaints in numerous respects, including by lying

about him and targeting him for unfair and unwarranted criticism and discipline.

20. Defendants ignored Plaintiff’s complaints and their employees continued making

discriminatory comments throughout Plaintiff’s employment. Defendants’ supervisory employees

aided and abetted the hostile work environment to which Plaintiff was subjected by permitting,

creating and encouraging this illegal work environment.

21. Defendant’s illegal conduct culminated in Plaintiff suffering severe emotional

distress. The hostile work environment also impacted Plaintiff’s physical health.

COUNT ONE

NEW JERSEY LAW AGAINST DISCRIMINATION

22. Plaintiff reasserts Paragraphs 1-21 as if set forth at length herein.

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23. Defendants’ conduct against Plaintiff violates the New Jersey Law Against

Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq. (the “LAD”).

24. Specifically, Plaintiff was subjected to unlawful disparate treatment discrimination,

hostile work environment discrimination and retaliation under the LAD by the Defendants.

25. As a result of Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiff has endured significant damages

including, but not limited to, physical and bodily injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation,

embarrassment, personal hardship, career and social disruption, psychological and emotional

harm, economic losses, and other such damages.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court enter judgment in his favor,

together with (i) damages to be determined at trial, with interest; (ii) pre-judgment and post-

judgment interest at the highest rates allowed by law; (iii) attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses with

appropriate enhancement; (iv) punitive damages; and (v) all other legally permissible relief that

the Court deems appropriate.

DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

Plaintiff hereby demands a trial by jury.

/s/ Ravi Sattiraju

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.
Ravi Sattiraju, Esq.
NJ Bar Id. No. 035251998
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Email: [email protected]
Date: September 20, 2018

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DESIGNATION OF TRIAL COUNSEL

Pursuant to Rule 4:5-1(c), Ravi Sattiraju, Esq. is hereby designated as trial counsel for

Plaintiff.

/s/ Ravi Sattiraju

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.
Ravi Sattiraju, Esq.
NJ Bar Id. No. 035251998
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Email: [email protected]
Date: September 20, 2018

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO R. 4:5-1

I hereby certify, pursuant to Rule 4:5-1 that the matter in controversy herein is the subject

of no other pending legal proceeding or arbitration nor is any other legal proceeding

contemplated to the best of my information and belief. Further, I know of no other party who

should be joined in this lawsuit.

/s/ Ravi Sattiraju

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.
Ravi Sattiraju, Esq.
NJ Bar Id. No. 035251998
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Email: [email protected]
Date: September 20, 2018

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COMPLIANCE WITH R. 4:9-1

This First Amended Complaint and Jury Trial Demand pleading is being timely filed

pursuant to R. 4:9-1 “as a matter of course” because it is being filed within ninety (90) days after

Defendants filed their initial Answer pleading on August 28, 2018.

/s/ Ravi Sattiraju

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.
Ravi Sattiraju, Esq.
NJ Bar Id. No. 035251998
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Email: [email protected]
Date: September 20, 2018

CERTIFICATION OF SERVICE

Pursuant to R. 1:5, I hereby certify that I served the above First Amended Complaint and

Jury Trial Demand pleading on this, the 20th day of September 2018, upon the following counsel

of record, via filing of same on the New Jersey Courts’ Judiciary eCourts System and via facsimile

to the following address:

Richard A. Amdur, Esq.

AMDUR, MAGGS & SHOR, P.C.
P.O. Box 190
Oakhurst, New Jersey 07755
Fax: (732) 542-6569

/s/ Ravi Sattiraju

THE SATTIRAJU LAW FIRM, P.C.
Ravi Sattiraju, Esq.
NJ Bar Id. No. 035251998
116 Village Boulevard, Suite 200
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Tel: (609) 799-1266
Email: [email protected]
Date: September 20, 2018

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EXHIBIT D{
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EXHIBIT D
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EXHIBIT E
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