Sohrab Haroonian v. Elmo Semi Conductor Corporation
Published: Sep. 24, 1994 | Result Date: Sep. 7, 1994 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: EC004924 – $350,000
Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Glendale
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Michael G. Dawson
(Law Office of Herbert Hafif PC)
Cynthia D. Hafif-Stonehouse
(Hafif-Stonehouse Law Group)
Defendant
Facts
Plaintiff Sohrab Haroonian worked as a senior test engineer for Defendant Elmo Semiconductor Corporation from August of 1986 until he was terminated at the age of 38 years on June 21, 1990. Elmo Semiconductor Corporation, located in Burbank, procures semiconductor parts, tests them to certain military or customer specifications, and then distributes them to various companies, including sub and prime defense contractors in the United States military and aerospace programs. Elmo also procures, tests, and distributes parts that go into medical devices such as pacemakers and heart valves. It was Mr. Haroonian's job to test these various parts and, if the parts did not pass according to customer or military specifications, to determine the cause of why these parts failed.
Settlement Discussions
Plaintiff contends their demand was $250,000 and Defendant's offer was $40,000. Defendant contends its offer prior to trial was $35,000 and Plaintiff demanded $350,000 before trial and $750,000 after the jury found for the Plaintiff in the liability phase.
Specials in Evidence
not in evidence $255,000 $1,404,765
Damages
Plaintiff asked the jury to award $1,660,623 in economic damages and an undisclosed amount for non-economic damages.
Injuries
Emotional distress.
Result
The first phase of the jury trial commenced on August 9, 1994 wherein it was determined that Elmo was liable for wrongfully terminating Mr. Haroonian in violation of public policy. The second phase of the jury trial took place on Wednesday, September 7, 1994, and determined the amount of damages to be awarded to Plaintiff from Defendant. The jury poll of 9-3 Plaintiff did believe there was fraud or illegal activity or a violation of public policy; 9-3 yes, he did report it; 12-0 Plaintiff was wrongfully terminated for reporting same; and the damages phase resulted in a 9-3 poll on the amount to be awarded.
Deliberation
Phase I - 3 days, Phase II - 2 hours
Poll
Phase I - 9-3, 9-3, 12-0 and Phase II - 9-3
Length
Phase I - 6 days, Phase II - 1 day
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