The allegations are that drug company #1 licensed to drug company #2 the authority to market drug company #1’s HIV drug. After it sold the license to its drug, drug company #1 increased the price fourfold. Meanwhile back at drug company #1, another HIV drug was being marketed at a much lesser cost, thus driving business […]
Was Sexual Harassment A Substantial Motivating Reason?
Plaintiff contended he was fired in retaliation for reporting allegations of sexual harassment and a jury awarded him $238,328. The trial court instructed the jury with CACI No. 2430, the 2012 version. Citing Harris v. City of Santa Monica (2013) 56 Cal.4th 203, [294 P.3d 49, 152 Cal.Rptr.3d 392] the appellate court reversed for a new […]
Disability Discrimination With The LSAT? Need For Accommodation.
Before a recent law change, when extra time was given to subjects with cognitive or physical disabilities who take the Law School Admissions Test [LSAT], the person’s score was identified and a letter sent to law schools notifying that an accommodation was granted and advising that the score should be interpreted with great sensitivity. In 2013, […]
Decertified Class Ordered Recertified.
Allstate Insurance Company changed the classification of its auto field adjusters from salaried employees to hourly employees in response to litigation challenging their misclassification as employees exempt from protection of overtime wage laws. After the change, Allstate presumed that an adjuster’s workday begins with the first appointment as set by the Work Force Management System. Plaintiff […]
Unexpected Consequences In Removing Employment Case To Federal Court.
Plaintiff brought a discrimination action against her employer under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act [FEHA; Government Code section 12900]. Defendant removed the action to federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship. A jury awarded plaintiff $27,280 for gender discrimination, and the court awarded $697,971.80 for attorney fees. The sole basis of the employer’s […]
Arbitration In Collective Bargaining Agreement Does Not Apply To Plaintiff’s Statutory Discrimination Claims.
Plaintiff, a member of a union, worked for defendant as a nurse assistant from when she was 45 years old until she was 66 years old when she developed a medical condition. Her doctor wrote a note stating she needed to stay off work for a few weeks. Plaintiff was terminated from her employment. She brought […]
FEHA Discrimination? Woman Told To Find A Bush To Relieve Herself.
Plaintiff, one of the woman workers on a construction project, filed a complaint for discrimination, harassment and retaliation pursuant to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) [Government Code section 12940, et seq.]. While working on the site, she often had to travel “miles from the work area” to access portable toilets. Also, the foreman frequently […]
Group Homes? Not In My Back Yard.
“One of the wealthiest cities in the United States” passed an ordinance “which prohibits new group homes in most residential areas, requires existing group homes in those areas to submit to a burdensome permit process, and subjects those seeking to establish group homes in the limited areas in which they are permitted to operate to the […]
In Pregnancy Discrimination Case Different Result Second Time Around.
Last year, we published the following: Pregnancy Discrimination Verdict Upheld. Woman employee was fired three hours after returning from pregnancy leave. In her action alleging wrongful termination and violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act [FEHA, Government Code section 12940], a jury awarded her $10,000. After the verdict, the court granted her $50,858.44 […]
Gay Man Will Be Persecuted If He Is Returned To His Native Country.
A 37-year-old gay native and citizen of the Philippines was ordered removed from this country. The Ninth Circuit granted the man’s petition for relief, stating: “Dennis Vitug, a native of the Philippines, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order vacating an immigration judge’s (“U”) grant of withholding of removal and protection under […]