We invite you to review our newly-posted January 2022 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Elation Sys., Inc. v. Fenn Bridge LLC, 71 Cal. App. 5th 958 (2021)
Elation Systems sued one of its former software developers, Tiebiao “Joe” Shi, for breach of a nondisclosure agreement and a settlement agreement after he quit his employment and formed a new business entity called Efen Bridge (which became Fenn Bridge). At trial, the jury concluded that Shi had breached the NDA
As we recently reported, California juries continue to award massive verdicts to employees with alarming regularity. And, just in time for the holidays, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury upped the ante on Thursday, handing a fired insurance company executive a verdict totaling $155.4 million – including $150 million in punitive damages.
Plaintiff Andrew Rudnicki worked for Farmers Insurance Exchange as a senior executive
We invite you to review our newly-posted November 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Sandoval v. Qualcomm Inc., 12 Cal. 5th 256 (2021)
Qualcomm hired TransPower Testing, Inc., an electrical engineering service company, to inspect and verify the amperage capacity of Qualcomm’s existing switchgear equipment. TransPower hired Martin Sandoval, an electrical parts supply and repair specialist, to conduct an inspection during which Sandoval was seriously injured. The jury awarded Sandoval over $1 million for past and future
Very few companies doing business in California missed the news recently that a San Francisco jury ordered Tesla, the electric car manufacturer, to pay $137 million to a Black former elevator operator who had worked at the company for less than a year before he quit his job due to alleged racial harassment in the workplace.
Sizeable verdicts like this from California juries are not
On Monday afternoon, a San Francisco federal court jury awarded $137 million to a Black former elevator operator who worked at Tesla’s Fremont facility for approximately one year before quitting his employment in 2016. After just four hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Owen Diaz $6.9 million in emotional distress damages and $130 million in punitive damages. Diaz testified at trial that Tesla employees frequently
A Los Angeles jury has ordered an apartment building owner and property management company to pay $7.6 million to two former live-in apartment managers who claimed to have been wrongfully terminated and discriminated against based upon a medical condition and disability (thyroid cancer).
Albert Garcia and his wife Stephanie Garcia sued Gresham Apartments Investors, owners of a Canoga Park apartment building, and the property managers,
We invite you to review our newly-posted July 2021 California Employment Law Notes, a comprehensive review of the latest and most significant developments in California employment law. The highlights include:
Van Buren v. United States, 593 U.S. ___, 141 S. Ct. 1648 (2021)
Nathan Van Buren, a former police sergeant, ran a license-plate search in a law enforcement computer database in exchange for money. Among other things, Van Buren was charged with violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) for “exceed[ing] authorized access” to the law enforcement database. A jury convicted Van Buren