Black Ex-Davis Polk Lawyer to Withdraw Some Bias Allegations

A Black former associate suing Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP for alleged race discrimination and retaliation will withdraw a set of allegations that the firm said had defamed a former partner, whom he is also suing.

The decision by Kaloma Cardwell to remove the challenged allegations against Sophia Hudson from his second amended complaint in the November 2019 lawsuit came during a pre-motion conference Monday before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Gregory H. Woods called the conference to determine whether Davis Polk should be permitted to pursue sanctions against Cardwell and his attorney for what the firm said was a repeated refusal to withdraw statements about Hudson despite evidence that they lacked a basis in fact.

Cardwell must file a third amended complaint by Feb. 5 “with those changes and only those changes,” Woods said.

The firm said Cardwell and his lawyer defamed Hudson with allegations that she created her reviews of his performance in 2016 after-the-fact and covered her tracks for litigation purposes.

The false accusation that Hudson asked Cardwell to “recommend a Black restaurant in Harlem” was also left in the second amended complaint even after the firm presented Cardwell and his lawyer with proof that it wasn’t true, Davis Polk partner Jeh C. Johnson told Woods during the conference.

Cardwell agreed to remove the challenged statements and to seek leave from the court to amend his lawsuit.

Davis Polk said it only brought the motion after Cardwell refused to make the withdrawals unless it allowed him to add 16 new paragraphs to his complaint to allege a theory he hadn’t previously advanced in the suit.

Cardwell’s suit against Davis Polk, Hudson, and seven other partners alleges that he was subjected to rigged performance review processes and other persistent racial bias during his four years with the firm. He was later denied work and then fired for complaining to federal and New York state employment rights agencies about the bias, he says.

The firm’s motion seeking roughly $100,000 from Cardwell for discovery abuses remains pending.

Woods on Monday also granted in part Cardwell’s request to amend the discovery schedule in the case. He will issue an order extending the discovery deadlines by seven weeks, not the approximately two months sought be Cardwell.

David Jeffries of New York represents Cardwell.

The case is Cardwell v. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:19-cv-10256, sanctions motion schedule set 2/1/21.