From Cooper v. Franklin Templetion Investments, decided Thursday by the Second Circuit (Judges Rosemary S. Pooler, Barrington D. Parker and Alison J. Nathan):
On May 25, 2020, Plaintiff, a white woman, encountered Christian Cooper (no relation), a black man in Central Park, while she was walking her dog and he was birdwatching. Plaintiff alleges that Mr. Cooper confronted her, and his "intentionally aggressive actions" caused her to "fear for her safety and the safety of her dog." She alleges this fear caused her to warn Mr. Cooper that she would tell the police there was "an African-American man threatening [her] life," and then to place a 911 call to that effect. The confrontation, which was recorded on a video that went viral, "became international news as a racial flashpoint." Plaintiff alleges that she was "characterized as a privileged white female 'Karen' caught on video verbally abusing an African American male with no possible reason other than the color of his skin."
Later that same day, Franklin Templeton published the following statement on Twitter regarding the incident: "We take these matters very seriously, and we do not condone racism of any kind. While we are in the process of investigating the situation, the employee involved has been put on administrative leave." Plaintiff alleges that while Franklin Templeton did contact her that day, it did not seek to interview Mr. Cooper about the incident, did not obtain a recording of Plaintiff's 911 call from the police, and did not take various other potential investigative steps. The following afternoon, Franklin Templeton put out another statement on Twitter (the May 26 Statement): "Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton." As relevant here, Johnson, Franklin Templeton's president and CEO, made two further public statements about the incident. In a June 2, 2020 interview with Bloomberg, in response to questions about Plaintiff's termination, Johnson stated:
I just have to commend [ ] our crisis management team, it was a holiday. Everybody got together. We needed to spend time getting the facts. Sometimes videos can get manipulated and so you have to make sure that you've reviewed all the facts. I think the facts were undisputed in this case, and we were able to make a quick decision.
And in a July 6, 2020 interview with Fortune, Johnson stated: "[Defendants] espouse zero tolerance for racism."
