$5.3M for worker after FedEx failed to accomodate injury

LOS ANGELES -- A superior court jury awarded $5.3 million to a former FedEx Corp. employee who accused the company of failing to adequately accommodate his disability.

The verdict in Carter v. Federal Express Corporation, et al., BC658923 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 24, 2017) came after 10 days of trial before Los Angeles Judge Rafael A. Ongkeko.

Plaintiff Harold Carter, employed by FedEx for 25 years, sustained a serious neck injury at work in December 2014. As a result, he said he was physicially unable to peform certain tasks. FedEx denied most of his requests for accomodation, including reduced work hours and no heavy lifting, according to court documents.

"Essentially, if you're a 25-year employee and expect any company to try and accommodate, it'd be FedEx," said lead plaintiff's lawyer J. Bernard Alexander III. "The fact that he wasn't accommodated by his company was part of the reason the jury [awarded] such substantial damages, because it'd be difficult for him to find work at another company."

Alexander, of Alexander Krakow + Glick LLP, tried the case with co-counsel Natasha Chesler of Chesler McCaffrey LLP.

The jury did side with the company in one aspect of the case. FedEx proved it would have taken adverse employment actions against Carter based on a "nondiscriminatory reason," the jury found.

FedEx was represented by its in-house attorneys Charles W. Matheis Jr, Stephanie A. Stroup and Christopher J. Yost, who did not respond to requests for comment.

"FedEx respectfully disagrees with the jury's decision regarding the award of excessive damages," Jim McCluskey, a spokesman for the company, said in an email. "FedEx does not tolerate discrimination or retaliation, and did not discriminate or retaliate against plaintiff."

"We are reviewing our legal options, including post-trial motions and an appeal."