Ishikawa v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 343 F.3d 1129 (9th Cir. 2003)
Yasuko Ishikawa, a Delta Airlines flight attendant, was terminated for failing a drug-detection urine test. Because the test had been performed negligently and had no validity, Delta rehired Ishikawa and paid her her lost income. Ishikawa also sued LabOne, the urine-testing laboratory, for negligence, and the jury awarded her $68,000 in economic and
California School of Culinary Arts v. Lujan, 112 Cal. App. 4th 16 (2003)
The employer, California School of Culinary Arts (CSCA), failed to pay its instructors overtime under Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order 4-2001 on the ground that the instructors were subject to the professional exemption of the Wage Order. The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) disagreed, contending that the exemption did
Chao v. A-One Med. Servs., Inc., 346 F.3d 908 (9th Cir. 2003)
The United States Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, brought this lawsuit on behalf of eight former employees of A-One Medical Services, Inc. and Alternative Rehabilitation Home Healthcare, Inc. to recover unpaid overtime payments under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Secretary and
Banaitis v. CIR, 340 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir. 2003)
In his tort claims against his former employer (Bank of California) and its successor (Mitsubishi Bank), Sigitas Banaitis alleged wrongful discharge and interference with his employment agreement. After losing at trial in Oregon state court (where Banaitis obtained a $6.27 million verdict in his favor) and failing in their appeals, Mitsubishi Bank and the Bank
Appling v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 340 F.3d 769 (9th Cir. 2003)
The State Farm agents in this case alleged that the company had terminated them in breach of their independent contractor agreements. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of State Farm, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding that the termination provision did not require good cause and, in fact,
Adams v. Pacific Bell Directory, 111 Cal. App. 4th 93 (2003)
Forty-two employees of Pacific Bell Directory (all of whom were members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) filed a lawsuit alleging that the company’s practice of debiting employees’ commissions was unlawful under Labor Code Section 221 and Business and Professions Code Section 17200. The employer promptly removed the action to federal court
Mosby v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 110 Cal. App. 4th 995 (2003)
Freddie Curtis Mosby and his wife Sheri Mosby sued Freddie’s employer, Best Buy, and Best Buy’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, for malicious prosecution and loss of consortium after Liberty Mutual reported Mosby to the local district attorney for workers’ compensation insurance fraud, which charges were dismissed after the
Le Parc Community Ass’n v. WCAB, 110 Cal. App. 4th 1161 (2003)
Tim Curren, an employee of Advance Property Management (APM), was injured when he fell from a roof while cleaning the rain gutters of one of the properties owned by Le Parc Community Association. (Le Parc had retained APM to perform roof repairs, tree trimming and other maintenance activities.) In addition to filing
Hoblitzell v. City of Ione, 110 Cal. App. 4th 675 (2003)
Timothy Hoblitzell, a construction contractor, sued three employees of the City of Ione and the city itself after the employees identified themselves to one of Hoblitzell’s customers (a property owner) as building inspectors, told the customer that Hoblitzell had been performing the construction without permits and made disparaging remarks about the quality of
Alvarez v. IBP, Inc., 339 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2003)
Meat packing employees of IBP, Inc. (the world’s largest producer of fresh beef, pork and related products) filed a class action lawsuit alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employees (all of whom were non-exempt from the overtime requirements of state and federal law) alleged that they should have been