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
A San Diego jury awarded that amount to a former employee who claimed he was wrongfully terminated based on his arrest record and then defamed.
Michael Tilkey worked for Allstate Insurance for 30 years and was fired from his job as a field sales leader after he admitted to Allstate that he was arrested for domestic violence against his then-girlfriend. Although Tilkey was not convicted
On Tuesday, a Los Angeles jury did what L.A. juries do so often these days — they awarded tens of millions of dollars to an ex-employee who claimed she had been the victim of discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation. Codie Rael, who worked as a materials buyer for a dental supply company, claimed that she was subjected to comments such as you are “outdated,” “a
A federal court jury on Wednesday awarded a record $168 million to a physician’s assistant who complained of multiple instances of sexual harassment by her supervisors in the cardiovascular surgery department at Sacramento’s Mercy General Hospital. The verdict is believed to be the largest ever awarded to a single plaintiff in an employment case. The plaintiff, Ani Chopourian, complained that she was sexually harassed on multiple occasions during her employment. Among other things, she alleged that one surgeon called her a "stupid chick" in the operating room, said she did surgery "like a girl," disparaged her Armenian heritage by asking if she had joined Al Qaeda, and referred to patients as "pieces of sh*t." Another surgeon allegedly stabbed her with a needle and broke the ribs of an anesthetized heart patient in a fit of rage, and yet another surgeon greeted the plaintiff each morning by saying "I’m horny" and slapping her on the bottom.
Stillwell v. The Salvation Army, 167 Cal. App. 4th 360 (2008)
Arthur Stillwell sued The Salvation Army (“TSA”) for breach of an implied agreement to terminate his employment only for good cause. The jury found that TSA breached an implied agreement with Stillwell and awarded him more than $155,000 – but it also determined that Stillwell had executed an enforceable agreement that rendered his