SYLLABUS

(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).

Maria Tartaglia v. UBS PaineWebber Incorporated and Herbert Janick (A-107/108-06)

Argued October 10, 2007 -- Decided December 16, 2008

HOENS, J., writing for a unanimous Court.

The Supreme Court addresses four issues relating to the appeal of this employment discrimination case: 1) whether the appellate panel erred in concluding that plaintiff, Maria Tartaglia, should have been given the benefit of an adverse inference charge relating to allegedly spoliated evidence in light of the fact that she had also been permitted to assert and preserve separate, substantive spoliation claims; 2) whether the panel erred in overturning the trial court’s determination that certain evidence offered by Tartaglia could not be used by the jury to demonstrate that Tartaglia had engaged in protected activity; 3) whether the appellate panel erred in its evaluation of the propriety of two comments made by defense counsel in summation; and 4) the propriety of the pre-trial order granting summary judgment to defendants, UBS PaineWebber, Inc. (PW), on the common law wrongful termination claim.