Blasdell v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Whistleblower Retaliation

Los Angeles County

Superior Court Judge William F. Fahey

Defense Lawyers: Lynne C. Hermle, Julia C. Riechert, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Plaintiff's Lawyers: Carney R. Shegerian, Anthony Nguyen, Shegerian & Associates Inc.

It was a battle of the titans last June when Carney R. Shegerian, winner of multiple seven- and eight-figure plaintiff jury verdicts, dueled Lynne C. Hermle, the lawyer who thwarted Silicon Valley investor Ellen Pao.

The result? Hermle client Space Exploration Technologies Corp. won a defense verdict against Shegerian plaintiff Jason Blasdell after an hour of jury deliberation. Blasdell v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. et al., BC615112 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 1, 2016).

"It was shocking to me," Shegerian recently acknowledged.

The prolific lawyer, who more often than not is in court for a jury trial, groused that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William F. Fahey didn't reopen discovery to let two of Blasdell's co-worker's corroborate his story. Shegerian has appealed the verdict.

Hermle also didn't know what to expect after the two-week trial concluded.

"The only case in which I was completely sure of a defense verdict was the Pao case," she said. "In other cases, I haven't been sure. I thought SpaceX had treated Jason Blasdell fairly and lawfully and that the evidence showed that. But you never know what filters of their own experience jurors bring to the trial, so it is hard to predict results."

A former technician for the Elon Musk-founded company whose mission is to colonize Mars, Blasdell alleged his employer failed to properly mark and serialize rocket parts. He also claimed that managers pressured technicians to deviate from written protocols and sign off on tests that had not been performed.

These included tests for NASA space missions as part of SpaceX's $1.6 billion federal government contract.

Blasdell's assertions survived summary judgment. But on the eve of the trial, SpaceX called in Hermle and she went right after the plaintiff's credibility. Witnesses testified that Blasdell was disruptive, insubordinate and "freaked them out" at work with his mood swings.

A forensic psychiatrist even testified that Blasdell might be paranoid due to his methamphetamine prescription.

It was not the first time that Hermle emerged victorious after scrutinizing a plaintiff's character.

In a 2016 defense verdict, also for SpaceX, she said that plaintiff Zhoei Teasley, who accused her client of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, was "what happens when borderline personality disorder rears its ugly head."

And in the gender discrimination trial between Pao and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Hermle portrayed Pao as tactlessly ambitious, lacking original ideas, and generally unlikable.

Hermle's victories perhaps set a template for companies that aggressively defend themselves instead of quietly settling lawsuits.

But she insisted that her work is not trend-setting in discouraging plaintiffs' lawyers to pursue cases. "Plaintiffs and plaintiffs' counsel make decisions based on the evidence on each case," Hermle said.

Encounters between Hermle and Shegerian are expected to continue in the Blasdell appeal, and another trial scheduled for later this year, a gender discrimination case that Shegerian's client Lynn Levitan filed against her former employer, Apple Inc. Levitan v. Apple Inc. et al., BC622413 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 1, 2016).

-- Matthew Blake