Facts

Plaintiff Edward Martinez, a medical assistant, was hired by defendant Jared L. Piety, M.D. to work in his medical office. Martinez was employed for six months, and was paid the minimum wage of $8 per hour. Plaintiff filed suit against his former employer, claiming he was harassed and discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff claimed that after defendant learned that he was gay, defendant immediately began harassing him by calling him names such as "queer," "homo," and "flaming faggot," among other unconscionable acts. Eventually, after about a half of a year of employment, plaintiff claimed that defendant manufactured false reasons to terminate him, and immediately replaced plaintiff with a new employee.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant alleged that he knew plaintiff was gay at the time he was hired, and that he never made any inappropriate comments directly to plaintiff. Defendant admitted that he may have said inappropriate comments in a few instances, but none were directed at plaintiff and none were related to plaintiff's sexual orientation.

Defendant contended that plaintiff consistently made major errors and/or mistakes during his employment, which was the only reason defendant eventually terminated plaintiff.

Result

The jury found in favor of plaintiff as to discrimination, harassment and failure to prevent harassment and/or discrimination, awarding plaintiff $30,000 in lost earnings, $50,000 in emotional distress and $10,000 in punitive damages. The court also awarded $282,955 in attorney fees, plus $17,323 in costs. The court entered the total judgment of $390,278 against defendants.

Other Information

Pre-Trial mediation was unsuccessful. FILING DATE: Feb. 17, 2011.

Deliberation

four hours

Length

seven days