Confidential
Settlement – $375,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Torrance
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Vida M. Holguin
(Law Office of Vida M. Holguin)
Defendant
Facts
The plaintiff left his employment in the mid-West as a sales director and began to work for the defendant in January 1996. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant's vice president offered him an equity interest in the company and to be groomed as a successor president of the company. The plaintiff accepted the position but one month prior to starting his job, the defendants verbally informed him of a possible purchase by another company. However, defendant vice president allegedly downplayed the purchase as having any effect on the plaintiff's employment and further that such a purchase would mean more financial growth for the company. The plaintiff asked for an employment contract which the defendant refused, stating that no employee or officer had such contracts and that they were not needed. The vice president also allegedly stated that as long as defendant was employed, which would be for at least another five years, plaintiff would have a job. The plaintiff assumed that his job performance was acceptable since he developed business and never was advised anything to the contrary. In August 1996, as he was preparing to move his family to California, the plaintiff was terminated from his job. The plaintiff alleged the defendant stated it was because the company was being purchased, and the new company wanted to put its own person in plaintiff's position. The defendant apologized, saying that the plaintiff was perfect for the position and was everything that he thought he would be. At the time of his termination, the plaintiff had put a child in college on the West Coast in anticipation of the family move. In light of the termination and family expenses, the plaintiff took a job in Mississippi for a lesser position, lower pay and benefits, and relocated his family at personal expense. The plaintiff would have been eligible for defendant's stock option plan in September 1996. The plaintiff brought this action against the defendants based on fraud, breach of contract and violation of Labor Code º970.
Settlement Discussions
No formal settlement offers were exchanged.
Damages
Per defendant, the plaintiff claimed $800,000.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately 11 months after the case was filed. MEDIATION: A mediation was held on Sept. 5, 1997, before Linda Meyers, resulting in the reported settlement.
Length
one day (Mediation)
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