“Sharp” Defense Lawyers Smacked Down by Appeals Court

Ever wonder what would happen if a lawyer tried to “pull a fast one” on a trial court judge? Wonder no more. In Francisco Diaz v Prof. Community Mgt., Inc., a case decided in October 2017 by the Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeals, an appeals court considered the case of two unscrupulous lawyers who…

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What Happens to Huge Verdicts AFTER the Headlines

Multi-million dollar verdicts routinely headline the news. But what few seem to know is what happens to those verdicts long after the jury and the public have moved on. More often than not, those verdicts get cut down to size or get lost in a perfect storm of appeals. In Stevens v. Vons Companies, a…

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Largest Sexual Harassment Verdict in History – $168 Million

A Sacramento hospital has the dubious distinction of being hit with what may be the largest sexual harassment verdict in history. On August 7, 2008, Mercy General Hospital terminated Ani Chopourian, a 45-year-old former cardiac surgery physician assistant who was educated at UCLA and Yale, allegedly for failing to show up for an on-call shift…

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LAPD Hit with $2.3 Mil. Sexual Harassment Jury Verdict

The LA Times reports in an article entitled “Jury awards $2.3 million in LAPD harassment case” that a federal jury has awarded a female police officer $2.3 million for sexual harassment and retaliation by members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division in 1996. Melissa Borck, et al., v. City of Los Angeles,…

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Longshorewoman Wins $1.2 Million Jury Award for Retaliation

Fellow attorney Tony Luti reports a $1.2 million award to a longshorewoman in a retaliation lawsuit against her employer, Pacific Maritime Association. Plaintiff Catherine McCoy was a third generation dockworker who had worked the waterfront for 18 years. She and five other African-American women had filed a lawsuit against employer Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) in…

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