Steve Ronk and Lisa Garner from the Los Angeles Employment Group successfully defended a non-profit family resource center under contract with the City of Huntington Beach against wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation claims.  The Plaintiff, a 48 year old woman, accepted a position to oversee the operations of the Center, but was terminated after nine months of employment for poor performance.

Plaintiff claimed that during her employment, there was mold in the Center that was making her ill.  She further alleged the Center was located in a high crime area and security was inadequate to protect her and others in the Center. 

Plaintiff filed suit against the center and two individual managers alleging discrimination for her physical disability (mold allergy); failure to accommodate her condition; age and gender discrimination; retaliation and wrongful termination based on her complaints about health and safety issues.  Plaintiff also alleged the center believed she was about to file a workers’ compensation claim.  Plaintiff sought compensatory damages of $600,000 and punitive damages.

After three and a half weeks of trial, the Court granted nonsuit and directed verdict motions for the center on plaintiff’s claims for age and gender discrimination and retaliation.  The matter was submitted to the jury on plaintiff’s claims for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate a disability, and wrongful termination in violation of public policy.  After only two hours of deliberation, the jury returned defense verdicts on all causes of action.