Dana-Simone Williams v. The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedJune 12, 2026
Docket2:22-cv-00983
StatusUnknown

This text of Dana-Simone Williams v. The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities (Dana-Simone Williams v. The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Dana-Simone Williams v. The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities, (E.D.N.Y. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Dana-Simone Williams,

Plaintiff,

-v- 2:22-cv-983 (NJC) (AYS) The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities,

Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER NUSRAT J. CHOUDHURY, United States District Judge: Plaintiff Dana-Simone Williams brings this action against the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington (the “Brewington Firm”), Frederick K. Brewington, and Precilla Lockett (collectively, “Defendants”) pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. (“Title VII”), and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq. (“NYSHRL”). Williams claims that she was subjected to sexual harassment, retaliation, and discriminatory termination during the course of her employment at the Brewington Firm as a legal assistant. (See generally Am. Compl., ECF No. 17.) Currently before the Court is Defendants’ Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment under Rule 56, Fed. R. Civ. P., in which they seek summary judgment on Williams’ Title VII claims on the basis that the Brewington Firm, the sole defendant on these claims, does not qualify as an “employer” subject to the statute. (See Mot., ECF No. 103-1.)1 I denied Defendants’ previous motion for summary judgment on the Title VII claims, which made the same legal argument, in a March 1, 2024 Memorandum and Order (the “Memorandum and Order”). See Williams v. Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, No. 2:22-

cv-983, 2024 WL 896883 (E.D.N.Y. 2024). The Memorandum and Order is incorporated by reference and familiarity with it is presumed. In the Memorandum and Order, I concluded that in order to defeat summary judgment on her Title VII claims, Williams must show a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether the Brewington Firm employed fifteen employees for twenty weeks in either 2020 or 2021 as required for Title VII to apply to it during the timeframe of Williams’ claims. Id. at *7. I found that the record showed that “there are seven weeks in 2020 when the [Brewington] Firm had fifteen employees, eight weeks when the [Brewington] Firm had at least fourteen employees, and eighteen weeks when the [Brewington] Firm had at least thirteen employees.” Id.; see also Appendix A infra. I also concluded that “there were three weeks in 2021 when the [Brewington]

Firm had eighteen employees, twelve weeks when the [Brewington] Firm had fourteen employees, and twenty-three weeks when the [Brewington] Firm had thirteen employees.” Williams, 2024 WL 896883 at *7; see also Appendix B infra. Based on these factual findings, Williams may survive summary judgment on her Title VII claims if she shows that there is a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether both Steven Tannenbaum and Oscar Holt were employees of the Brewington Firm either (1) during five of the eighteen weeks in 2020 when the Brewington Firm otherwise had thirteen employees, or (2) during five of the twenty-three weeks

1 Williams asserts Title VII claims only against the Brewington Firm and not against Brewington or Lockett. (See Am. Compl. ¶¶ 202–17.) in 2021 when the Brewington Firm otherwise had thirteen employees. Id. Finally, I also ordered the parties to conduct jurisdictional discovery on the employment status of Tannenbaum and Holt in 2020 and 2021. Id. at *13–15. On Defendants’ Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment, I consider a factual record

expanded by the parties’ conduct of jurisdictional discovery. For the reasons explained below, the undisputed facts establish that Tannenbaum was not a Title VII employee of the Brewington Firm in either 2020 or 2021. During both years, Tannenbaum was highly skilled in medical malpractice litigation and maintained an active law practice through his own law firm, Tannenbaum, Bellantone & Silver, P.C. (the “TBS Firm”), while receiving referrals of potential medical malpractice cases from the Brewington Firm. Although Tannenbaum also handled litigation tasks as a consultant to the Brewington Firm on four of its medical malpractice matters, Tannenbaum handled discrete and limited tasks, worked out of his own office at the TBS Firm, and billed the Brewington Firm through invoices for payments to the TBS Firm. Moreover, the Brewington Firm never paid Tannenbaum a salary or provided him office space at the

Brewington Firm’s office suite. The undisputed facts overwhelmingly demonstrate Tannenbaum’s independence from the Brewington Firm under the tests set forth in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989), and E.E.O.C. v. Johnson & Higgins, Inc., 91 F.3d 1529 (2d Cir. 1996). The record presents a closer question as to whether Oscar Holt was an employee of the Brewington Firm in either 2020 or 2021. Application of the Reid factors to the undisputed facts shows that there is a genuine dispute of material fact as to Holt’s employment status from June through December 2020 and in 2021, while the Johnson & Higgins factors weigh in favor of finding that Holt was a Brewington Firm employee during those time periods. Nevertheless, because Tannenbaum was not an employee of the Brewington Firm in either 2020 or 2021, the undisputed facts establish that the Brewington Firm did not have at least fifteen employees for twenty weeks in either year as required for it to be an “employer” for purposes of Title VII during the timeframe of Williams’ claims.

Accordingly, Defendants’ Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment is granted in full. In the absence of any federal claims, I decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Williams’ remaining state law claims. BACKGROUND The facts and procedural history are set forth in the Memorandum and Order and familiarity with them is presumed. The following are additional facts established by the record on Defendants’ Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment. The Brewington Firm is a law firm that practices civil rights litigation and has an office in Hempstead, New York. (April 2, 2025 Declaration of Frederick K. Brewington (“2025 Brewington Decl.”) ¶ 1, ECF No. 96.) Brewington is an attorney and principal of the Brewington Firm. (Id.) Steven Tannenbaum and Oscar Holt are attorneys who worked with, and on behalf of,

the Brewington Firm on certain matters in 2020 and 2021. Williams was employed as a legal assistant by the Brewington Firm from July 23, 2019 to June 14, 2021, the date on which her employment was terminated. (Am. Compl. ¶ 20; ECF No. 96-1.) I. Steven Tannenbaum Steven Tannenbaum is a partner of the firm Tannenbaum, Bellantone & Silver, P.C. (Nov. 3, 2023 Declaration of Steven Tannenbaum (“2023 Tannenbaum Decl.”) ¶ 6, ECF No. 96- 13.) He has been a salaried partner at prior versions of the TBS Firm since 1990. (Id.) Tannenbaum specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury litigation. (Id. ¶ 5.) In light of his subject matter expertise, Tannenbaum has relationships with more than 25 law firms in the New York metropolitan area that refer medical malpractice cases to him. (Id.) Tannenbaum and Brewington became acquainted with one another through their shared professional circles. (Id. ¶ 9.)

Tannenbaum began working with the Brewington Firm in an “of counsel” role in around 2019 or 2020, after Brewington requested Tannenbaum’s assistance with preparing an opposition to a summary judgment motion in a medical malpractice case.

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Dana-Simone Williams v. The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington, Frederick K. Brewington, in his individual and professional capacities, and Precilla Lockett, in her individual and professional capacities, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dana-simone-williams-v-the-law-offices-of-frederick-k-brewington-nyed-2026.