Racial Harassment in Bergen County-Justice for Roberth Morales

This post was initially published on April 10, 2009: Racial Harassment in Bergen County-Justice for Roberth Morales

Roberth Morales was a 17 year employee of the Bergen County Parks Department, having enjoyed a successful career and looking forward to supervisory and managerial level positions in his future.

That all changed in 2004 when he received a promotion to interim supervisor and came directly under the control of two Mike Rand and Todd Cochrane. Both began to criticize Roberth’s ethnicity (Roberth was from Ecuador). Sometimes, Mr. Rand did this right in front of Mr. Cochrane, who is the assistant superintendent of the entire parks department. Sometimes, Mr. Cochrane would join in.

They would talk about how Hispanic people were only good for getting drunk, drinking and joining gangs, that they were constantly bringing booze and weapons to the county parks and generally making sure that Roberth felt as low as he could possibly feel, he being an Hispanic man.

The county hadn’t trained Cochrane and Rand not to engage in this behavior and hadn’t trained Roberth in how to deal with it. Roberth internalized the harassment, trying to keep his head up, but inside, it deeply affected him, as it would have anyone whose ethnicity and race were being so callously and viciously impugned by their own bosses.

Finally, during a cold three days in April of 2009, Roberth got justice. Before a jury ofBergenCounty residents, cognizant that they were awarding a verdict against their own county that they would have to personally support in some measure by their own tax dollars, they awarded Roberth Morales compensatory damages. The Court will then follow suit to award attorney’s fees as well.

Cochrane denied the conduct right down to the end, and county counsel was obliged to deny the conduct, too. In the end, however, justice won the day, reinforcing my faith in the jury system and in the power of eight strangers to come together and to deliver justice in the way that the original framers of the Constitution intended.

There was no doubt that it was a hard case – defense counsel all but called Mr. Morales a liar – but in the end, the jury went with their gut and picked the truthful party.

I was proud to represent him and proud to be a part of obtaining justice, one victory at a time.