Facts

Plaintiff Luisa A. Diaz, a 52-year-old woman of Puerto Rican heritage, was a Child Support Officer II in the Encino office of the Los Angeles County Department of Child Support Services. She claimed that she was denied a promotion to a supervisor position in December 2008 because she was not Armenian.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Diaz claimed that Armenians were favored in the Encino office, and that 16 of the 16 individuals promoted from that office from 2005 to 2008 were Armenian. She claimed that she was the superior candidate for the December 2008 promotion and that the Division Chief of the office had made statements that Diaz interpreted as indicating that management wanted to promote Armenians. Diaz also relied on a statistical analysis from her expert concerning promotions into and out of the Encino office.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The Encino Division Chief testified that she selected the candidate of Armenian heritage because he had a personality that was better suited to the supervisor position, and that he had experience in the Department's audit division that Diaz lacked. Defense counsel argued that the limited data on which the expert based her analysis was not a valid indicator of bias by the Division Chief or within the department as a whole.

Settlement Discussions

Plaintiff demanded $400,000. Defendant offered $75,000, contingent upon receipt of plaintiff's resignation from county service.

Damages

Plaintiff's expert calculated her economic loss at $223,000.

Result

Defense verdict.

Other Information

Mediation with Hon. Russell Bostrom on July 12, 2011, was unsuccessful. FILING DATE: Oct. 1, 2010.

Deliberation

37 minutes

Poll

8-0

Length

three days