Financial firm that fired 'Central Park Karen' wants judge to throw out her wrongful termination suit saying it stood by its decision to fire her and did due diligence by investigating the incident
Amy Cooper sued Franklin Templeton Investments in May 25, one year after she was caught on video calling the cops on birdwatcher Christian Cooper in Central Park
The financial firm where the 'Central Park Karen' worked wants a federal court to throw out her wrongful termination lawsuit in a filing that includes more 100 news articles of the white woman's now-infamous May 2020 encounter with a black birdwatcher.
Franklin Templeton Investments asked the Southern District of New York to dismiss Amy Cooper's May 25 lawsuit, in which she alleged that the company 'legitimatized' the Karen narrative by failing to properly investigate the incident.
Last year, Amy Cooper was walking her dog when she was filmed telling Christian Cooper that she was going to call the cops and 'tell them there's an African-American man threatening my life' in New York City's Central Park.
Christian Cooper, who is not related to the woman, had repeatedly asked her to leash her dog in an area of the park where pets are not supposed to roam freely.
The video, shot by Christian Cooper's sister Melody, spread quickly, and Franklin Templeton fired Amy Cooper the next day.
In her lawsuit, Amy called Christian Cooper an 'overzealous' birdwatcher engaged in ongoing feud between birdwatchers and dog owners
Amy Cooper previously managed Franklin Templeton's insurance portfolio
She previously managed the investment firm's insurance portfolio.
Amy Cooper was charged with one count of falsifying an incident report - a Class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Her charges were dropped after she completed five 'psychoeducation and therapy' courses, according to Business Insider.
In her federal lawsuit, Amy Cooper alleged her company furthered the narrative that made her 'international news as a racial flashpoint.'
But Franklin Cooper CEO Jenny Johnson says they investigated the incident thoroughly.
'I've been in a couple of situations where social media got it wrong. And it's difficult as a CEO, and as a firm, when social media doesn't have it right and you need to stand by people,' Johnson told Yahoo News last month.
'In the case of that situation of Amy , we stand by our decision
'We felt and we feel confident in the due diligence we did in the end — the process to make our evaluations.'
Franklin Templeton, with offices at 280 Park Avenue, employs about 11,000 people worldwide
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson said she was confident in the 'due diligence' her company did before it fired Amy Cooper a day after the Central Park incident went viral
Along with a motion for dismissal, the company appended the viral video of the encounter along with 110 links to news coverage from outlets that included the Daily Mail, The New York Times and Agence France-Presse.
The firm manages up to $1.5 trillion in assets and employs more than 11,000 people.
In an August 3 interview with Bari Weiss's Honestly podcast, Amy Cooper claimed she's had to flee the country and go into hiding after the incident.
She told Weiss the avid bird-watcher told her: 'If you're going to do what you want, I'm going to do what I want, but you're not going to like it.'
She continued: 'I look up and he's holding these dog treats in one hand and a bike helmet in his other hand and I'm thinking, 'Oh my god, is this guy going to lure my dog over and try to hit him with his bike helmet?'
'And if I end up over there am I going to get hit by this bike helmet?'
Christian Cooper has said that he carried dog treats with him when going birdwatching to avoid getting bitten by other people's pooches.
In her wrongful termination lawsuit, she alleged she was 'frightened to death' of Cooper, who she called an 'overzealous birdwatcher engaged in Central Park's ongoing feud between birdwatchers and dog owners.'