Judge Awards Legal Fees to Judy Racow

A Superior Court judge has awarded Police Office Judy Racow with the legal and other costs associated with the Racow vs. Town of Winthrop sex discrimination case she initially filed with the MCAD.

On Dec. 18 Judge Karen Green denied the Town’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (an attempt to vacate the verdict) and granted Racow’s Petition for Award of Attorney’s fees and costs.

Under the anti-discrimination anti-retaliation statutes, if a plaintiff is successful at trial the plaintiff is entitled to be reimbursed for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

In this case over 1,100 hours have been tallied by Racow’s team, totaling $541,554 in attorney’s fees and $13,187 in costs. This brings the total judgment against the town to more than $2.5 million.

Beth Myers of Powers, Jodoin, Margolis & Matell in Boston has been representing Racow and Attorney Jeremy Silverfine, of Perkins, Brody, Hardon and Kesten in Boston, has been representing the Town of Winthrop in this case.

“At this point we are more focused on the punitive award of damages with the original decision” said Town Manager Austin Faison.

The original decision came in March 2018 when Judge Green found in favor of Racow and awarded damages just over $2.3 million.

After a two-week long jury trial last winter Justice Karen F. Green decided in favor of Sgt. Judy Racow, who has been on the force for 23 years. The 12-member jury and two alternates found that Racow had been discriminated against on account of her sex.

In December 2013 Racow filed discrimination charges with the MCAD alleging sex discrimination and retaliation. She withdrew the complaint in September 2014, yet had complained that the defendant’s response to her alleged misconduct was more severe than alleged misconduct of male officers. She also claimed that complaints about working conditions were not taken as seriously, and that she was denied special assignments, training and other benefits awarded to less-qualified colleagues.

Racow also claims she was passed over for becoming a motorcycle officer, school resource officer and K-9 officer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.