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Brian Schornak, who was an employee of Jennifer Lopez‘s company Nuyorican Productions, filed a lawsuit Wednesday for “intentional infliction of emotional distress” against Lopez’s personal manger, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas.
The suit in L.A. Superior Court charges that Goldsmith-Thomas disliked Schornak, a development executive, and “decided to make his life miserable,” even though she was not officially an employee of Nuyorican.
A rep for Goldsmith-Thomas dismissed the suits’ claims.
“This lawsuit is frivolous,” the rep told The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday evening.
Schornak had previously sued Nuyorican in May, claiming he was pushed out of his office and then the company after he was mistreated by Goldsmith-Thomas, whom he described as “a tyrant.”
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He said in the earlier suit that after Goldsmith-Thomas was hired by Lopez in March, she conspired to demote him, berated him and falsely accused him of stealing before orchestrating his termination from the company.
In his new lawsuit, Schornak once again refers to being accused of improperly taking money related to the truTV show South Beach Tow. He says Goldsmith-Thomas’ “insinuation is that the plaintiff was also stealing.”
Schornak says his involvement with South Beach Tow, in addition to his regular work, was known and approved in advance.
He says Goldsmith-Thomas abused him verbally, which, says the suit, “she has a reputation of doing in the industry.” He says she described an e-mail he sent in his defense as “disgusting” and “self-serving” and she “characterized him as a credit hog.”
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Schornak says Goldsmith-Thomas took over his office and moved his personal effects to the company’s kitchen.
The suit is for emotional distress, says Schornak, because Goldsmith-Thomas acted “with reckless disregard for the probability of causing [him] to suffer severe emotional distress, and with wanton and reckless disregard for the injurious result.”
He is asking for compensatory and punitive damages but did not state a specific sum.
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