The orchestra also urged the court to nix Wang’s sex discrimination claims against the Philharmonic. Wang had alleged that the Philharmonic hadn’t indefinitely suspended a female musician when there was a pending investigation.
In a related federal court case, Wang accused Vox Media LLC, New York Media LLC, and the journalist who wrote the New York Magazine article of defamation. In this suit, Wang said the article was defamatory because it falsely linked him to allegations involving Kizer.
Alan S. Lewis, who represents Wang, said in a statement to Law360 on Wednesday that the union and Philharmonic are trying to toss the claims “based largely on technical legal arguments that, in our view, lack merit.”
“Our position remains that the Philharmonic, by suspending a world-class musician from performing, practicing, entering the orchestra’s building, or attending meetings of the orchestra, imposed legally actionable negative employment sanctions,” Lewis said.
Lewis added that the motions don’t “seriously dispute that the Philharmonic suspended Liang mainly because he was the subject of a magazine article and because of the reaction of some members of the Philharmonic community to that article.”
