Facts

Michael Costanza, plaintiff, worked for BCI Coca-Cola, defendant, for 27 years. The defendant is a bottling and distribution company for soft drinks. The plaintiff was promoted to supervisor where one of his duties was to conduct random inventory audits of defendant's trucks to reconcile the inventory on the truck with the inventory report. Some of the drivers claimed their signatures on the inventory audits were forged or that audits were not performed. On April 12, 2006, defendant discharged plaintiff. The plaintiff sued on the basis that his termination was the result of age discrimination.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiff claimed that he was terminated due to his age.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendant argued that the decision was based on an investigation that showed plaintiff had falsified company documents, including truck audit forms. Defendant claimed plaintiff did not deny forging the signatures.

Result

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defense.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Jan. 30, 2007.

Deliberation

40 minutes

Length

three days