Atanaskovic Hartnell was not hard done by in a judgment that ordered payment of entitlements to a former general manager and rejected its cross-claims against the woman, an appeals court has been told. The law firm was just unhappy with the decision.
The judge who awarded more than $320,000 to a former general manager of Atanaskovic Hartnell after finding she endured a “campaign of denigration” by the law firm’s founder fundamentally failed to discharge his judicial function, an appeals court has heard.
An appeal by Atanaskovic Hartnell over a $330,000 damages judgment in favor of a former general manager is motivated in part by the court’s award of costs in what is a typical ‘no-cost’ employment case, the firm has told a judge, who questioned how much money had been spent on the case already.
Sydney law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell has been ordered to pay more than $160,000 to a former general manager who was found by a court to have been the victim of a “campaign of denigration” by one of the firm’s founders.
The managing partner of a high-profile Sydney law firm has told the barrister cross-examining him that the word menstrual means “monthly” in Latin, when explaining an email in which he slammed the firm’s former general manager’s practice of billing clients on a “menstrual based cycle”.
Lawyer John Atanaskovic, the founded of Sydney firm Atanaskovic Hartnell, could come across as “rude” but he was other times a “model of civility and subordinance”, former equity partner Tony Hartnell has told a court during trial in a case by a former general manager alleging bullying and breach of contract.
A former general manager suing law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell has amended her pleadings as trial in her case resumes Friday, expanding her claims and including details of an email in which the firm’s managing partner allegedly slammed her practice of billing clients on a “menstrual based cycle”.
A former general manager who is suing law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell for alleged bullying and faces cross claims that she failed to satisfactorily perform her job was offered a part-time role with the firm after resigning, despite being “grossly negligent”, a court has heard.