Heating Up

Sexual harassment lawsuit targets ex-Gov. DiFrancesco
Lawyer from his firm claims improper firing
Thursday, October 25, 2007
BY JOSH MARGOLIN AND ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff
A lawyer who claims she was sexually harassed by former Gov. Donald DiFrancesco and fired from his law firm when she "blew the whistle" on bad behavior by a municipal judge filed suit against the firm yesterday.

DiFrancesco called the allegations "absolutely false."


The civil suit was filed in Essex County by Michele D'Onofrio, 48, a single mother of four who lives in Warren Township and served as its municipal prosecutor. She claims she was fired last month "in retaliation" for filing a judicial ethics complaint against a local judge after being warned not to do so.

The lawsuit says D'Onofrio had learned that Warren Township Municipal Court Judge Richard Sasso was "inebriated" on the bench and had abused his powers. It claims Assemblyman Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset), a partner in the firm, warned her not to file a complaint.

D'Onofrio contends that during her six years at the firm, she was "regularly subjected to unwelcome and sexist comments and advances by Donald DiFrancesco" and "experienced a pattern and practice of sex discrimination."

Reached last evening, DiFrancesco, 62, said: "Let me just say this: Kip and I are public figures so we're easy targets. This person was asked to take her business elsewhere -- not just by me, but by the owners of our business for business reasons. What she's alleging is absolutely false, both as to myself and as to Kip. It's just a matter of trying to collect."

Efforts to reach Sasso last evening were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit alleges that at a meeting of the League of Municipalities in Atlantic City, "DiFrancesco asked plaintiff to stay an extra night in his suite and to attend a Beach Boys concert with him. Plaintiff refused."

DiFrancesco said his wife, Diane, was with him at the Atlantic City convention and he was only trying to be nice by offering D'Onofrio and his other partners the chance to use an extra room in their suite.

He declined to comment on any of the other accusations, on the advice of his attorney.

The lawsuit also claims that shortly before D'Onofrio underwent reconstructive surgery this month following a double mastectomy, DiFrancesco made inappropriate remarks about how she would look afterward.

It also alleges the firm has no female partners and recently held a golf outing for male employees only.

"It's 2007. Who has a men-only firm outing? You kidding me?" said Nancy Erika Smith, the Montclair lawyer who is representing D'Onofrio.

"Other women have complained about the conduct and I can prove it," Smith said. "Once in a while, you get these big shots who think that this little girl, who is nobody, can't stand up to them. That's how they treated her. It's been awful."

Smith said she filed the lawsuit in Essex County because D'Onofrio had brought her concerns to some Superior Court judges in Somerset County who "are going to be witnesses."