Popular WNYW investigative reporter Arnold Diaz is at the center of a nasty legal dispute that has residents of Manhattan’s posh Carnegie Hill neighborhood buzzing.
Francesco and Evelyn Bruni have leveled a lawsuit against their condo board alleging discrimination, according to The New York Times. Ms. Bruni, who is from the Dominican Republic, was recently kicked off the board and says that the dismissal was unfair. The board contends that she lost her seat because of an incident involving WNYW’s Diaz, who is famous for his confrontational investigative series “Shame, Shame, Shame.”
In 2006, the Brunis’ downstairs neighbor brought a $1.6 million lawsuit against them, complaining that their floors were not appropriately covered with noise-muffling rugs. In response, the Brunis approached producers at WNYW with the zealous lawsuit, which stated that noises such as “footsteps of a child running across a floor” were too much for the neighbor to handle.
Reporting on the lawsuit, Diaz confronted the neighbor outside of the apartment building. The run-in spurred the neighbor to file a new $52 million lawsuit against the Brunis, alleging “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
A judge quickly dismissed the new lawsuit but not before Ms. Bruni lost her seat on the board.
According to court papers, reviewed by the Times, she was removed “on the ground that she had brought negative attention to the building” in speaking with WNYW.
Here’s a sample of Diaz’s work:
[The New York Times: “East Side, West Side, Bias Claims Abound”]