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BLOG / 10.05.18 /Jack Malley

Judge Dismisses Warner Wolf’s Age Discrimination Claim Against Imus

On September 27, 2018, Hon. James E. d’Auguste dismissed the age discrimination lawsuit that Warner Wolf commenced against Don Imus earlier this year in Supreme Court, New York County.

Wolf alleged that after he started doing his sports broadcasts for Imus’ show in Florida, instead of in the show’s New York studio, Imus fired him because of his age. Wolf’s support for the claim was comments made by Imus that “it was time to put [Warner] out to pasture” and “shoot him with an elephant dart gun,” and that Wolf was replaced by a broadcaster decades younger than him. Prior to the firing, Imus had told Wolf that his broadcasts from Florida “sucked.”

Judge d’Auguste held that Wolf’s claims against Imus lacked specificity, and ruled that “the only specificity contained in the complaint is stray comments made by Imus, a member of the same protected class.” Judge d’Auguste also held that Wolf did not have a viable claim under New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law because any discrimination would have occurred in Florida where Wolf lived. Media reports indicate that Wolf will appeal the decision.