Judge upholds verdict but lowers award in school discrimination case

PINE PLAINS — Federal District Court Judge Paul Davison, who presided over the original trial, rejected a post-trial motion from the Pine Plains Central School District to overturn the verdict in a racial discrimination case, but did reduce the damages awarded by the jury from $1.25 million to $1 million.

The original verdict, announced on March 12 of this year, was rendered in favor of the Zeno family. A lawsuit had been filed by the parents of Anthony Zeno, now 21, charging that the school district had not acted quickly enough to address complaints by Zeno that he was being racially harassed by students from 2005 to 2008, when he attended Stissing Mountain Middle/High School. Anthony’s mother, Cathleen, is white and his father, Henry, is Latino.

Stephen Bergstein, the family’s attorney, said that the family was still very happy with the judge’s decision, adding that it was uncommon for damages awarded in such cases to remain that high.

“A lot of damages awards get lowered,� Bergstein explained. “What happens is the judge tries to bring it line with other cases. Juries don’t really have that kind of guidance when they’re making their decision. But you don’t see it only lowered to a million. You don’t see that many $1 million awards for a single plaintiff in a discrimination case.�

Bergstein said that he expects the school district to file a notice of appeal, which would announce that Pine Plains would appeal to a higher court. If that court upheld the verdict, the school could try to take the case to the state Supreme Court, but it would be highly unlikely to be accepted, Bergstein said.

The school district referred all questions involving the case to its attorney at the Albany offices of the law firm Towne, Ryan & Partners. A call for comment on the case was not returned before this paper’s press deadline. But Bergstein was quick to point out that the case could remain in the court system for some time.

“There’s really no timeline for the Court of Appeals,� Bergstein said. “It depends on the case. I’ve seen cases take two weeks and I’ve seen them take up to a year [before the court makes a decision]. There’s just no way to know.�