NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) – A New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit by a former JPMorgan Chase banker who in graphic terms said his former supervisor coerced him into sex and demanded his submissiveness, though the lawsuit is expected to be refiled in federal court.
Chirayu Rana, the former banker, will pay some legal fees of JPMorgan and his onetime colleague Lorna Hajdini as a condition of the dismissal, Justice Dakota Ramseur wrote on Thursday.
The dismissal, which Rana had requested, does not affect Hajdini’s defamation countersuit against him. Her lawsuit remains in the state court in Manhattan.
Rana, who was a vice president in leveraged finance, accused Hajdini of using her seniority to coerce him into non-consensual sexual activity over several months.
The complaint said Hajdini used racially derogatory language to threaten Rana, who is of Asian descent. It also said she raped and drugged him, claimed she “owned” him, and threatened to sabotage his career if he didn’t fulfill her sexual demands.
Hajdini said Rana’s malicious lies “wreaked havoc” on her life, subjected her to around-the-clock ridicule and harassment, and were designed to attract maximum press coverage in addition to millions of dollars in damages he did not deserve.
She also denied being Rana’s supervisor, using racial epithets or threatening him.
JPMorgan has said it believed Rana’s allegations were meritless.
Rana sued JPMorgan and Hajdini on April 27, and replaced his lawyers last month.
His new lawyers have said they intended to add claims of discrimination and retaliation under multiple federal civil rights laws, and claims under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, to Rana’s state law-based claims.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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