Two women who accused former Assemblyman Vito Lopez of sexual harassment filed a legal brief Tuesday opposing Sheldon Silver’s motion to quash their federal suit holding the Assembly speaker responsible for Lopez’s behavior.
Silver claimed the case should be dismissed because he took “swift and effective” action after staffers Victoria Burhans and Chloe Rivera complained about Lopez. Silver also said he can’t be held liable for a prior harassment complaint against Lopez that resulted in a cash settlement.
But the plaintiffs argued they wouldn’t have been harassed if Silver hadn’t condoned Lopez’s prior mistreatment of women.
“No reasonable person in Silver’s position could have believed it was lawful to assist Lopez in concealing his unlawful harassment,” their lawyer, Kevin Mintzer, said in Manhattan federal court papers.