US court upholds award of $1.5 mn damages to Indian maid

New York, March 21 (IANS) A US court has approved a magistrate's award of $1.5 million compensation to an Indian maid who had accused a former Indian diplomat and her husband of harassment and "slavery".

US District Judge Victor Marrero "adopted in entirety" the report of US Magistrate Judge Frank Maas recommending payment of $1.5 million compensation to maid Shanti Gurung for the alleged "barbaric treatment" and "emotional distress" by Indian diplomat Neena Malhotra and her husband Jogesh.

Neena Malhotra had employed Gurung as her domestic help for three years between 2006 and 2009 when she was serving as a counsellor at the Consulate General of India in New York.

"The application of plaintiff Shanti Gurung for an award of damages is granted; accordingly, judgment is entered in favour of Gurung and against defendants Jogesh Malhotra and Neena Malhotra in an amount of $1,458,335 in accordance with the calculations and breakdown of that amount set forth in the report," Marrero said in his judgment Tuesday.

Marrero also ordered the case closed as Malhotras did not file any objections to Maas' report even though they had 14 days to do so. He said the court is not required to review any portion of a magistrate judge's report that is not the subject of an objection.
After a thorough review of the documents submitted, "the Court concludes that the findings, reasoning and legal support for the recommendations made in the report are not clearly erroneous or contrary to law and are thus warranted", he said.

"Accordingly... the court adopts the report's factual and legal analyses and determinations, as well as its substantive recommendations in their entirety as the court's ruling as to Gurung's application for an award of damages," Marrero said.

In his recommendation filed Feb 21, Maas had said Gurung should be awarded the compensation as she was a victim of "outrageous and shocking conduct".
Gurung had alleged that she was treated like a slave by the Malhotras and forced to work long hours without adequate compensation.
Marrero's ruling came just days after the Delhi High Court restrained Gurung from pursuing her lawsuit in the US.

The judgment came days after Delhi High Court in an interim order restrained Gurung from pursuing her case in the New York court as the whole concept of anti-suit injunction would be defeated if the foreign court was allowed to decide the issue at this stage.

"An Indian diplomat enjoys sovereign immunity and any order passed by the court of the US would tantamount to interfering in the rights of the government of India to determine the terms and conditions of the employment of its diplomatic officers posted abroad," the Delhi court said.