Asbury Park Press facing legal trouble in wake of offensive photo caption incident

LAKEWOOD - Devorah Zucker was just trying to do her job as a nurse at the township's CHEMED health center in 2021 when she was thrust into the public spotlight after Gustavo Martínez Contreras, who was then an Asbury Park Press reporter, published a photo of her at work with an anti-Semitic slur and sexualized caption in a story about COVID-19 vaccines.

Now she's taking them to court, and seeking damages.

Earlier this year, Zucker filed suit in state Superior Court against the embattled legacy media outlet, alleging that the photo caption - which was live for 14 hours before being taken down - cost her job opportunities and defamed her.

Contreras, whose employment was terminated following the incident, captioned the photo of Zucker as “A f***ing hot nurse, a total JAP, loads a syringe with a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.”

Named as defendants in the suit are Martínez Contreras, along with the paper's executive editor Paul D'Ambrosio, the newspaper itself and parent company Gannett Co. and its CEO, Mike Reed.

The 2021 incident created a PR debacle for the newspaper and caused Monmouth County government to stop utilizing the newspaper for legal notices, a substantial source of revenue for many print media outlets. D'Ambrosio apologized on behalf of the paper one day after the incident.

Zucker, through her attorney, says that she lost out on an opportunity to be promoted to a management position at her employer amid the unwanted attention garnered from the fallout surrounding the offensive photo caption.

"On or about April 8, 2021, plaintiff was advised that she was no longer being considered for a leadership or management position, in part, as a result of the Asbury Park Press posting," a court filing submitted by Zucker's attorney, Yosef Jacobovitch said.

"As a direct and proximate result of defendant's malicious inducement to CHEMED and potential superiors of plaintiff not to engage plaintiff in any leadership position, plaintiff suffered damages in the amounts that will be established at trial," the complaint read.

It is important to note that none of the allegations contained in the complaint have been proven or disproven yet in court.

State court records show that the Asbury Park Press has yet to file a formal response in court. On July 30th, the court generated an automated lack of proseuction warning due to a lack of activity in the case since it was first filed this March. If nothing is done by September 27th, the case could be dismissed with prejudice.

The next step of this lawsuit will likely either involve the filing of a motion to dismiss - which would result in the complaint being thrown out without a trial - or the filing of a formal answer, which would initiate what would likely become a lengthy discovery process and possible settlement negotiations.

Gannett's legal team may also consider removing the case to federal court, a tactic often employed by out-of-state corporate defendants seeking a more favorable forum.

Unlike public entities, if this matter is settled out of court the public is unlikely to gain any insight into the terms of the settlement due to confidentiality provisions.