After more than 10 years, cocktail servers at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City will get their day in court after an appellate court ruled that the case can move forward.
The servers protested the casino’s weight policy for cocktail servers and the scanty costumes they were required to wear—which led to the case being dubbed the Borgata babes case.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, the lawsuit was filed in 2008 by five of the original 22 women who claimed the dress code created a culture of humiliation and harassment. The women involved in the initial claim disputed a policy prohibiting the servers from gaining more than 7 percent of their body weight after they were hired, among other provisions.
The case has been dismissed by a trial court and appealed twice.
“After a decade of motion practice and appeals, plaintiffs are entitled to their day in court,” read the appellate court decision.
In 2015, an appellate court ruled that 11 women could still go to trial, but the Borgata sought and obtained the trial court’s permission to “renew” its summary judgment motion with limited additional evidence presented.
“The trial court should have followed its initial inclination and scheduled the case for trial, instead of giving defendant a second bite of the apple on summary judgment issues this court already decided,” the appellate judgment read. “The trial court had no authority to reconsider the same evidence we reviewed and reach a different legal conclusion from that evidence.”
According to the Press, four of the 11 women settled with Borgata and two others declined to go forward with the second appeal. The five remaining women in the suit — Tara Kennelly, Noelia Lopez, Cindy Nelson, Tania Nouel and Jacqueline Schiavo — are represented by Robert Herman, of Linwood.
In another matter, Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam Jr. has settled a civil lawsuit with a casino nightclub director who he allegedly borrowed money from but failed to pay back, the Press reported.
According to court documents, Meredith Adele Godfrey and Gilliam reached a settlement over an unpaid $5,000 personal loan. Details of the settlement were not available.
