Franklin Templeton Prevails in ‘Central Park Karen’ Bias Appeal

A White woman couldn’t convince the Second Circuit to revive claims her former employer Franklin Templeton discriminated against and defamed her after a video showing she had called the police on a Black birdwatcher in Central Park went viral.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case, agreeing that Amy Cooper failed to allege facts that gave rise to “even a minimal inference” of discriminatory motivation in her firing.

The ruling is the latest development in Cooper’s case against her employer. She sued Franklin Templeton in May 2021, almost a year after she was fired as its head of insurance investment, arguing the financial services company unfairly terminated her and labeled her a “racist.”

“Defendants’ statements made no mention of Plaintiff’s race, and even to the extent they could be read as accusing Plaintiff of being a racist, ‘a statement that someone is a ‘racist,’ while potentially indicating unfair dislike, does not indicate that the object of the statement is being rejected because of her race,’” the summary order said.

Cooper failed to allege actionable defamatory statements, the court said.

The day after the video was published, Franklin Templeton put out a statement on Twitter announcing the termination, adding that “we do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.”

“To the extent that Defendants’ statements are read as accusing Plaintiff of being a racist, the reasonable reader would have understood this to be an expression of opinion based on the widely circulated video of Plaintiff’s encounter with Christian Cooper,” the order said.

Judges Rosemary S. Pooler, Barrington D. Parker, and Alison J. Nathan joined the opinion.

Andrea Paparella of New York, N.Y., and Litt Law LLC represent Cooper. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP represents Franklin Templeton.

The case is Cooper v. Franklin Templeton, 2d Cir., No. 22-02763, summary order 6/8/23.