No lawsuit is good news, but one just filed against The Hennessee Group perhaps could not have come at a worse time for the firm. Filing the action in New York State Supreme Court is Leanna Piscopo, the New York firm's former chief compliance officer, who claims her pregnancy announcement led to harassment by the firm's founders, Charles Gradante and E. Lee Hennessee, and her eventual dismissal. The firm vehemently denies the charges, and its lawyer, Louis Pechman of Berke-Weiss & Pechman, says not only does he have evidence that Piscopo voluntarily resigned, but the firm also offered her job back. Still, the suit can still be a sticky thorn in the side of the hedge fund adviser. Piscopo, whose husband is Hennessee communications director Alex Smith-Ryland, reportedly is a "significant potential witness in pending actions against" Hennessee by clients who had invested in Bayou Management," says attorney Ross Intelisano of the Rich & Intelisano, who represents those clients, in a New York Post interview. "This dispute... can certainly cause problems for them." Piscopo's attorney, Saul Zabell, told Reuters his client is seeing "multiple six figures in damages."