Former PNC Bank wealth manager Damara Scott, who won a $2.4 million award in a suit against her former employer, moved for a new trial on punitive damages.
A jury found earlier this month that PNC Bank failed to protect her from an investment customer who was a known serial harasser of women, particularly African American women.
New Jersey Supreme Court law requires that Scott get a new trial because PNC Bank concealed important evidence, the motion filed in Essex County Superior Court Wednesday said.
After the trial concluded, it came to light that the bank intentionally withheld a video taken from on-site surveillance cameras at the Glen Ridge branch that showed Patrick Pignatello attacking Scott from behind, according to a release from Scott’s attorneys at Smith Mullin in Montclair.
When Glen Ridge police approached PNC Bank for surveillance video, PNC claimed that it did not have video, thereby obstructing the police investigation. PNC continued to lie about the existence of video through litigation and sworn testimony, according to Smith Mullin. Scott’s attorney Nancy Erika Smith reportedly saw photos after that trial that showed cameras and demanded video; and when PNC produced a video a week later, the timer on the video jumped at the time of the alleged assault.
Smith –
“I have never seen such an egregious pattern of fraudulent concealment of material evidence from police and prosecutors, Ms. Scott, the court and the jury,” said Smith in a statement. “The bank’s appalling conduct was compounded by perjury. Ms. Scott deserves a new trial on punitive damages.”
The motion claims that the video coverup was part of a larger pattern of fraudulent concealment and discovery abuse. PNC Bank also failed to produce emails, contemporaneous notes and other relevant documents, the suit alleges. Handwritten notes taken by PNC Bank internal investigator Richard Brizzi were found on the last day of trial, after PNC claimed they didn’t exist, according to the suit.
The motion alleges that the bank’s “pattern of fraudulent concealment” disrupted Scott’s trial against the bank and was designed to discredit Scott’s account. The jury found earlier this month that the bank failed to protect Scott, and according to the motion, evidence intentionally witheld by the bank would have led the jury to award punitive damages.
Neil Mullin of Smith Mullin and Randy Davenport of Elizabeth also represent Scott in this matter.
PNC has not returned a request for comment by press time.
