Vaught v. State, 157 Cal. App. 4th 1538 (2007)

Marck Vaught was employed as a resource ranger for the State. His position required him to be on call “all the time.” As an inducement to accept the position, the State offered Vaught and his wife the use of a residence located in the district in which Vaught worked. Vaught subsequently slipped and fell in…

Soremekun v. Thrifty Payless, Inc., 509 F.3d 978 (9th Cir. 2007)

Adediji Adesola Soremekun, who was employed as a pharmacist at Thrifty Payless d/b/a Rite Aid, was subject to a collective bargaining agreement that existed between Rite Aid and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. After resigning his employment, Soremekun filed a lawsuit in which he alleged claims for breach of contract, failure…

Harman v. City and County of San Francisco, 158 Cal. App. 4th 407 (2007)

This case, which was originally filed in federal court in 1999, involved allegations of race and sex discrimination by Allen Harman and two other white males who were employed as airfield safety officers at the San Francisco International Airport. After the case went to trial, a jury awarded Harman $15,300…

Perez v. Uline, Inc., 157 Cal. App. 4th 953 (2007)

On the day that Brian Perez, a captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserves, returned to work after duty with the Reserves, his employment with Uline, Inc. was terminated. He was presented with a “Severance Agreement and Release,” offering him severance in the amount of six weeks’ salary in exchange for his execution…

Bernard v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 158 Cal. App. 4th 304 (2007)

William Bernard had an insurance agency, representing certain State Farm insurance companies. Bernard alleged he was forced to resign when he was unable to carry out the physical requirements of the sales program following injuries he sustained in a car collision. Among other things, Bernard sued State Farm for breach…

Casella v. SouthWest Dealer Services, 157 Cal. App. 4th 1127 (2007)

Zachary Casella was employed as a sales representative for SouthWest Dealer Services, which sells its aftermarket auto products to auto dealerships and helps train auto dealership finance and insurance salespeople on how to promote and sell SouthWest’s products. Casella moved from New York to California to accept the position. After his employment was…

United States v. Betts, 511 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2007)

Marcus Brandon Betts, who worked for TransUnion (one of the three major credit reporting agencies), took bribes to conspire with his co-defendants to falsely improve credit scores. According to the Ninth Circuit, “it was a kind of private sector ticket-fixing scheme.” Betts falsified 654 credit histories, which generated about a million dollars in losses…

Bates v. United Parcel Serv., 511 F.3d 974 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc)

One of the requirements applied by UPS to those applicants seeking to drive the familiar brown “package cars” was that they pass the physical examination (including a hearing exam) that the DOT requires of drivers of commercial vehicles of a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of at least 10,001 pounds. (UPS’s…

deVillers v. County of San Diego, 156 Cal. App. 4th 238 (2007)

Kristin Rossum, who was employed as a toxicologist for the County of San Diego, took toxic materials from the Office of Medical Examiner (“OME”) and used them to murder her husband, Greg deVillers. After Rossum was convicted of murdering deVillers, his survivors sued the County for negligently hiring Rossum and for breaching…

Bader v. Northern Line Layers, Inc., 503 F.3d 813 (9th Cir. 2007)

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”) requires employers to give employees at least 60 days’ notice in the event of a plant closing or mass layoff at a “single site of employment.” The issue in this case was whether the site of employment of the construction worker-plaintiffs was the company’s…