A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday threw out a paralegal's multiple age discrimination claims against Special Counsel—finding that the suit, even with its allegations of 41 unsuccessful job applications, fell short on pleading that the large national legal staffing firm knowingly passed her over for younger candidates.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter called plaintiff Terri Jablonski's age claims conclusory, speculative and unsupported by plausible facts, and also dismissed the bulk of the related claims from the complaint, which had pleaded 14 causes of action including unemployment status discrimination and unlawful blacklisting.

Carter, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, left alive only claims for defamation and retaliation, both which he directed must be re-pleaded in shorter and plainer ways.