The Mets and former Senior VP/Ticket Sales & Service Leigh Castergine on Friday afternoon said they have settled the discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit she brought against the club last September. Castergine alleged an extended series of discriminatory practices by club execs, including COO Jeff Wilpon, due to her having a child out of wedlock. There was no immediate word as to the terms of the settlement. The Mets had denied any wrongdoing, and the case was on an extended discovery schedule slated to last until October. "The parties have decided to resolve this matter, which has brought more attention to the workplace environment for women in sports and will result in the organization being more attentive to the important issues raised by women in sports," the parties said in a joint statement. "Additionally, we are both committed to the further development and encouragement of female executives in our industry. Both sides have agreed to have no further comments" (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer). On Long Island, Jim Baumbach noted Castergine's lawsuit "sought monetary damages for discrimination on the basis of sex, pregnancy and marital status." Both sides said that they "would not comment beyond their joint statement." The settlement "removes the specter of the lawsuit from Wilpon and the Mets as they prepare for the season" (NEWSDAY, 3/14).
STAY OUT OF THE HEADLINES: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted the decision to jointly end the lawsuit differs from MSG’s decision in '06 to "fight a sexual harassment and discrimination case filed against it" and then-Knicks President Isiah Thomas by former Knicks Senior VP/Marketing & Business Operations Anucha Browne. The testimony at that trial was "highly negative" for MSG. A jury verdict found for Browne, who then settled for $11.5M in damages. Anne Vladeck, who represent Castergine, was "part of the legal team" for Browne (N.Y. TIMES, 3/14).
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? NBCSPORTS.com's Craig Calcaterra noted the allegations against the Mets "painted an ugly picture." The allegations had "at least some indicia of legitimacy based on how they were pleaded," but now we will "never know what happened." Calcaterra: "At the risk of reading too much into things, I’d say there’s a bit of a spanking of the Mets in the statement, with language which seems pretty clearly aimed at giving the public impression that Castergine’s claims were not baseless. It also suggests that the language was insisted upon by Castergine from a position of relative strength." But expect MLB "to do nothing now" with regard to levying punishment against the Mets (NBCSPORTS.com, 3/14).
