Williams v. Genentech, 139 Cal. App. 4th 357 (2006)
Rochelle Williams, a receptionist at Genentech, was criticized by her supervisors for mishandling an incident involving company security. (Instead of following the company’s established procedure for dealing with a security alert, Williams spoke to a security officer in a “code of her own devise” – “Hurry and bring the pizzas” and “It was a sad
Progressive Concrete, Inc. v. Parker, 136 Cal. App. 4th 540 (2006)
Ron Parker was employed as a sales coordinator by both Progressive and another company. The Labor Commissioner awarded Parker $133,339.38 in unpaid wages, interest and penalties. Progressive filed a notice of appeal with the San Diego County Superior Court, requesting a de novo hearing of Parker’s claims. The trial court stayed execution of
Kelly v. Stamps.com Inc., 135 Cal. App. 4th 1088 (2006)
Megan Kelly was discharged as the vice president of marketing of Stamps.com when she was seven months’ pregnant as part of a company-wide reorganization and reduction in force. Within a year of Kelly’s hire in October of 1999, the company suffered a precipitous 93 percent reduction in its stock value and, in order to
Biosense Webster, Inc. v. Superior Court, 135 Cal. App. 4th 827 (2006)
Biosense, a manufacturer and seller of electrophysiology catheters and anatomical mapping devices, had its employees sign non-competition agreements prohibiting them from providing services to “conflicting organizations” for 18 months after leaving Biosense. After three of its former employees went to work for St. Jude Medical, one of its competitors, Biosense threatened St.
StaffPro, Inc. v. Elite Show Services, Inc., 136 Cal. App. 4th 1392 (2006)
StaffPro initiated this malicious prosecution action against Elite Show Services, one of its competitors in the eventstaffing industry. Previously, Elite had sued StaffPro for unfair business practices that were allegedly designed to “artificially lower [StaffPro’s] cost of labor and to diminish or destroy competition for security guard and traffic control services
Readylink Healthcare v. Lynch, 440 F.3d 1118 (9th Cir. 2006)
Readylink Healthcare and its founder, sole shareholder and officer, Barry Treash, sued David Lynch and his law firm for invasion of privacy (public disclosure of private facts) based upon, among other things, Lynch’s posting on his website that Treash was a “convicted felon.” (Lynch had defended a former Readylink employee in trade secret litigation
Stamps v. Superior Court, 136 Cal. App. 4th 1441 (2006)
Robert Stamps sued his former employer, Traylor Brothers, Inc., for, among other things, violation of California Civil Code §§ 51.7 and 52.1 (granting all persons the right to be free from violence and intimidation by threat of violence based on race, religion, ancestry, national origin, etc.). The employer filed a demurrer in response to
Ash v. Tyson Foods, Inc., 546 U.S. 454, 126 S. Ct. 1195 (2006) (per curiam)
Anthony Ash and John Hithon, two African-American poultry plant superintendents, unsuccessfully sought promotion to shift manager positions; instead, two white males were selected. The employer filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law after a jury found in favor of Ash and Hithon. The district court granted
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Dabit, 547 U.S. 547 U.S. 71, 126 S. Ct. 1503 (2006)
Shadi Dabit, a former Merrill Lynch broker, filed this class action on behalf of himself and all other former or current brokers who, while employed by Merrill Lynch, owned and continued to own securities. Dabit alleged Merrill Lynch breached the fiduciary duty and covenant of
Harris v. Investor’s Business Daily, 138 Cal. App. 4th 28, 2006 WL 786806 (Mar. 29, 2006)
Plaintiffs were employed as telemarketers selling subscriptions to a financial newspaper, Investor’s Business Daily. The telemarketers’ compensation was based on a point system, which rewarded them for selling longer subscriptions, winning daily contests and meeting weekly sales goals. In addition, they were subject to a “chargeback” if the