The Jets have responded to a hand grenade with a nuclear warhead.
Sued by former V.P. of finance Elaine Chen for wrongful termination of her employment, the Jets have promptly filed a counterclaim against Chen, raising six different legal theories against her.
Via Brian Costello of the New York Post, the Jets accuse Chen of participating in an “unlawful conspiracy” with her husband Larry Fitzpatrick (the team’s former V.P. of ticket sales) and other former Jets employees. The countersuit alleges that Chen defamed team president Hymie Elhai by calling him a “sexual predator” in her civil complaint against the team (there’s very broad immunity for statements in court documents, by the way), and for repeating allegedly unfounded accusations of sexual harassment made against Elhai.
The Jets attached to their counterclaim against Chen text messages that they contend show a plot to destroy Elhai’s reputation and engineer his firing.
Costello’s article also includes this eyebrow-raising paragraph: “The Jets also allege they found evidence of inappropriate behavior on Fitzpatrick’s company-issued phone, including pictures of his genitals, interactions with women on adult websites, text messages objectifying women and gambling, which is prohibited by the NFL.”
Those specific contentions are entirely irrelevant to the claims against Chen. But this is now a P.R. play for the Jets. With the entire situation being, in our view, a bad look for a team that has a history of dysfunction, the Jets hope to prove to fans and media that they’re clearly in the right — and that Chen and Fitzpatrick are clearly in the wrong.
The gratuitous inclusion of allegations regarding Fitzpatrick, who has not sued the Jets, also seems to be calculated to wreak personal havoc for Chen and Fitzpatrick. (It’s a key component of the “FAFO” approach to defending billion-dollar companies against employees who have dared to file lawsuits against them.)
Still, the Jets employed Chen and Fitzpatrick. The Jets regarded them as sufficiently trustworthy and competent to deserve V.P.-level jobs. And the Jets apparently didn’t know that Fitzpatrick was violating NFL gambling policies on his company-issued phone.
So while the Jets may think their effort to exert a public pound of flesh makes them look good, the mere existence of this tawdry affair makes everyone look bad. Including the Jets, which gave positions of significant responsibility to a husband and wife who, if the Jets’ allegations are correct, should never have held those titles.
It also publicly highlights the gaping holes in efforts to ensure full compliance with the gambling policy. While the NFL from time to time thumps its chest about efforts to prevent team and league employees from nibbling on an apple from an orchard that pumps billions into the owners’ coffers, the simple fact remains that the oversight efforts are far from effective.
If it were, they would have known about Fitzpatrick’s violations long before this Fargo-style fiasco erupted into a public mud-wrestling contest.