OCEAN CITY – According to a 2021 civil suit filed by Rylie Devine, which the Herald accessed through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to Ocean City, her supervisor, Senior Lifeguard Christopher Denn, victimized her through his sexual harassment behavior.
The core matter of the complaint was brought under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination relating to “severe, pervasive and/or egregious sexual harassment endured by plaintiff (Devine) in the workplace.”
Specifically, Devine’s complaint alleged that Denn made “specific sexual comments,” “exposed his male genitalia” and “requested sexual acts from” her.
Devine claimed that Denn’s alleged conduct was “especially egregious” and caused her to be “embarrassed, humiliated and angry.”
Devine’s complaint continues with other details that Denn’s alleged conduct “is not the first time that the Beach Patrol’s failure to inculcate a culture that deters and/or prevents sexual harassment has resulted in harm. Ocean City was on notice that it had a major issue with regard to sexual misconduct at the Beach Patrol, which should have required them (Ocean City) to undertake conduct to prevent the harm done in this particular case, as well as in others,” according to the lawsuit.
In the information submitted by Ocean City, including Devine’s “second amended complaint and jury demand,” reasons among several for the amended filing of the complaint were that Denn and another individual, Mark Jamieson, were named as individual defendants and were, through the amended filing, “voluntarily dismissed.”
As substitutes, Devine named the City of Ocean City and the Ocean City Beach Patrol, public entities, as employers of the “referenced individuals,” along with other “defendant John Does, not identified,” under the doctrine of “respondeat superior,” that is, a legal principle that holds an employer responsible for the wrongful acts of an employee if such acts occur with the scope of employment.
Devine alleged that since the city delegated authority to these individuals over Denn, the city was legally responsible for their behavior resulting in sexual harassment.
Further, the complaint stated, the abusive conduct as described was the responsibility of Ocean City since “it negligently failed to promulgate policies, which would have stopped the conduct prior to it having been undertaken.”
TransparencyNJ.com, a watchdog website administered by John Paff, chairman of the NJ Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project, through its own OPRA requests, obtained information that Devine earned $14.97 per hour until her job ended Sept. 22, 2019. Denn earned $24.67 per hour. His “termination date” is listed as Aug. 9, 2019, and his “termination reason” is listed as “poor performance.”
Further financial details through this request emerged, including that of the $135,000 settlement amount, Devine received $74,165.80 and her lawyer, Kevin Costello, with an office in Mount Laurel, received the remaining $60,834.30 for his fees and expenses.
Ocean City Council passed a resolution Feb. 24, 2022, to pay the amount of $135,000 as a “confidential settlement” to settle Devine’s lawsuit.
The settlement agreement’s confidentiality clause requires Devine to “not disclose the facts, amounts and terms” of the settlement agreement. Since, however, a confidentiality clause does not override the public’s right to obtain copies of settlement agreements that arise out of lawsuits in which a government agency or official is a defendant, Ocean City responded to the Herald’s request for a copy.
As Paff summarizes regarding this case, “None of Devine’s allegations have been proven or disproven in court. The allegations against Denn and other city officials are just that – unproven allegations. Settlement agreements typically state that payment does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by any of the defendants.
Perhaps the defendants’ decision to settle was done to save further legal expense and the costs of trying what were, in fact, exaggerated or meritless claims, or perhaps the claims were true, and the defendants wanted to avoid being embarrassed at trial. All that is known for sure is that Ocean City or its insurer, for whatever reason, decided that it would rather pay Devine $135,000 than take the matter to trial. This is the problem when cases resolve before trial – it is impossible to know the truth of what really happened.”
Costello, replying to the Herald’s request for more information, said, “We are satisfied we successfully resolved this case without the necessity to litigate the matter before a jury.”
Requests to Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian and City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson did not elicit responses.
Ocean City Public Information Officer Doug Bergen said, “The city cannot comment on pending litigation or on confidential settlements.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
