Top Plaintiffs' Verdict by Impact: Hernandez v. Pacific Bell Telephone Co.

The attorneys who secured a former AT&T Communications of California Inc. employee a $2 million jury verdict in a Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, retaliation case said the legal victory helped spark major changes in the workplace.

Just a few weeks after the jury award was announced in April, a senior AT&T official believed to be the architect of the company's alleged FMLA-targeting scheme retired despite no indication in her trial testimony weeks earlier that she planned to step down.

Lead plaintiff's' counsel David M. deRubertis of The deRubertis Law Firm in Studio City said he was able to present to the jury a "smoking gun" email that the executive in question had sent to other officials about employee attendance.

"I want an explanation for each of the problem children," Elizabeth Gunn wrote on Nov. 11, 2009. "Is it a legitimate issue (cancer, etc.) If not, what are you going to do to move this person OUT OF THE BUSINESS before FMLA starts back over on January 1?"

In addition to the $2,027,884 jury verdict awarded to former AT&T service representative Angela Hernandez, the plaintiff's attorneys were also awarded more than $2.5 million in fees and costs.

Though Hernandez ended up resolving the case confidentially, deRubertis said the litigation and jury verdict also empowered the local Communications Workers of America union.

The union pointed to the Hernandez case verdict and the revelations from the trial as a reason for going on strike last May to protest the company's conduct.

A local union official also supplied a declaration supporting Hernandez's lawyers' post-trial motion for attorney's fees in which he outlined the powerful impact of the suit, including changeover in the leadership of local call centers.

"There can be no doubt that the San Diego bilingual call centers have been transformed for the better as a result of Ms. Hernandez's lawsuit and the evidence that came out during the litigation of this case," Orlando Gonzalez wrote.

The positive response from the union to the case and the changes at the company were very gratifying, said deRubertis.

"It showed that an individual retaliation case, tried and done right, can help show a company that there is a problem that must be fixed," he said.

Terry Chapko, a Coronado-based sole practitioner who was co-counsel, said it was very rewarding to see first-generation Mexican-American employees at AT&T feel that the justice system could help spur positive changes in the workplace.

There had been previously been class actions in California alleging AT&T targeted service employees for termination that secured settlements.

Hernandez decided to opt out from the class action from which she could have received about $2,500, according to deRubertis.

"This case was a good reminder that despite the tendency to pursue class actions all the time, there are certain cases that should be tried as individual cases," he said.

— Lyle Moran