Christopher P. Wesierski

In a dramatic scene as Wesierski delivered his closing argument in a wrongful termination and discrimination trial, the plaintiff grabbed a tissue, began to cry, loudly called that she needed a break and hastily exited the courtroom.

“I was talking about her lies” when the interruption came, said the lead name partner at Wesierski & Zurek. “I was going strong, and what she did was pretty bizarre.”

Plaintiff Catherine Sanchez contended that her former employer, hazardous material training provider NATEC International Inc., should pay $2.7 million for discriminating against her due to auto accident disabilities suffered after she began her employment as a salesperson. Wesierski said the company let her go because she could not make her sales. “My client spent a great deal more on her salary than it gained in new sales from her efforts,” he said.

At the 11-day trial in the spring of 2017, Wesierski said, “We caught her in a bunch of misrepresentations. She said she graduated from USC, but we found she falsified her resume, and she had to admit she exaggerated her experience. She said she’d been at a prior employer a year but it was only a month. It was just one thing after another.”

A key moment came when Wesierski produced a doctor’s report, written after the physician examined Sanchez for a workers’ compensation claim over a limp and other injuries allegedly stemming from one accident, in which the doctor told of watching through a window as Sanchez left his office, gave up the limp, strode normally on high heels and tossed her purse over her allegedly injured shoulder.

There were defense pitfalls to be avoided, Wesierski said. “If you are going to attack the plaintiff, you’d better finish ’em off on cross-examination, or the jury could feel like you are beating up on them unfairly.”

After leaving the courtroom, Sanchez returned to hear her lawyer’s rebuttal argument. The jury wasn’t impressed. “They were back with a verdict in five or six minutes, but the judge sent them to take a little more time to be sure,” Wesierski said. “After 20 minutes they came back again. It was 12 to nothing for the defense. I felt the jury really justified our defense.” Sanchez v. NATEC International Inc., 30-2015-00827131 (Orange Super. Ct., filed Dec. 28, 2015).

This year Wesierski was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the California Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

— John Roemer