Schlage Lock Co. v. Whyte, 101 Cal. App. 4th 1443 (2002)

J. Douglas Whyte was employed as a vice-president of Schlage where he was responsible for sales to The Home Depot (which alone accounts for 38 percent of Schlage’s sales) and other “big box” retailers such as HomeBase and Lowe’s. Whyte signed a confidentiality agreement to protect Schlage’s proprietary information and agreed to abide

Stewart v. U.S. Bancorp, 297 F.3d 953 (9th Cir. 2002)

The employees in this case sued their employer for breach of contract and violation of the Oregon wage law when they were given eight weeks’ severance pay instead of the 12 months’ severance that was provided to “middle management.” The employer removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss it, asserting that

West v. Bechtel Corp., 96 Cal. App. 4th 966 (2002)

Plaintiff, a former engineer who worked for Bechtel Corp. for more than 30 years, sued the company for age discrimination and breach of contract. At trial, plaintiff received a jury verdict of $101,852.27 for lost salary and emotional distress damages. The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment on the age discrimination claim for lack