Martinez and Page v. Southern California Edison Co. et al.

Dollar Amount: $464 million

Case Name: Martinez et al. v. Southern California Edison Co.

Type of Case: Harassment, retaliation

Court: Los Angeles County

Judge(s): Superior Court Judge Theresa M. Traber

Plaintiff Lawyers: The deRubertis Law Firm, David deRubertis; Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin & Harrison APC, Brennan Kahn, Todd H. Harrison

Defense Lawyers: Littler Mendelson P.C., Helene J. Wasserman, Shannon R. Boyce, Cassidy C. Veal

In a complex trial that spanned seven weeks of testimony, the plaintiffs' lead lawyers -- David M. deRubertis of The deRubertis Law Firm APC and Brennan S. Kahn of Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin & Harrison APC -- had a major goal: persuading the jury that the harassment and retaliation suffered by their clients went much further up the corporate chain of command than the few bad actors identified by Southern California Edison's management.

Convinced, the 12-person jury took just hours to rule that Southern California Edison Co. and its parent, Edison International, must pay $464,577,265 in compensatory and punitive damages.

"Sometimes I worry that in a long trial, the jury starts out upset with the defendant, but the feeling dissipates," deRubertis said. "But in this one, every day for seven weeks, we left the courthouse feeling happy and celebratory about the strength of our case."

Brennan Kahn

Toward the end of the trial, before they rendered what the plaintiffs' lawyers called the largest employment jury verdict in U.S. history for Alfredo Martinez ($422.3 million) and the largest male plaintiff sexual harassment verdict in California history for Justin Page ($42.2 million), jurors were shaking their heads and audibly reacting to documents deRubertis and Kahn produced that showed the top management whitewashing of a litany of complaints, deRubertis said. Martinez and Page v. Southern California Edison Co. et al., BC670461 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 1, 2017).

Page alleged he was sexually harassed. Martinez and Page reported the harassment and alleged they were retaliated against, with Martinez being investigated, and Page alleging he was threatened with violence.

"The defense contended that they fixed things when they terminated three rogue supervisors. They scapegoated them. But there was a much broader corporate culture of misconduct," said deRubertis.

Defense lawyer Helene J. Wasserman argued in court that Edison had listened to complaints and that what had happened to Page and Martinez was not condoned by the company. "The problem was resolved when the three ringleaders were cut off from the company. When people didn't follow the core values, they were fired," she told the jury. Wasserman did not return a message seeking comment on the trial's outcome.

Said Kahn, who worked up the case and brought it to deRubertis to try, "We showed systemic and intractable problems with these companies. Bad actors were allowed to continue unimpeded."

Added deRubertis, "The more I handle employment cases, the more I focus on corporate culture and the extent to which the corporation is ethically and morally responsible for what goes on."

In a post-verdict mediation, the sides resolved the matter for a confidential amount with no appeal.

--John Roemer