Confidential
Settlement – $325,000Judge
Court
Santa Clara Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Christopher Eugene Platten
(Wylie McBride Platten & Renner )
Defendant
Facts
Trace Tift, a fleet-service crew chief for American Airlines, began working for a company in 1975 that was later acquired by AA. He suffered an off-duty knee injury in 1995. The injury forced him to take extended sick leave for five years, the maximum amount of time allowed by the company. He underwent three surgeries, rehabilitation, and physical therapy during that period.
AA officials contacted Tift in 1997, just before his third surgery, to inform him that he needed to provide additional medical documentation to support his leave of absence. They terminated him in December 1997 for failing to provide the information, though he claimed that he had furnished it. Tift was subsequently reinstated, but was again terminated in August 2000 for failure to provide medical documentation. He was subsequently reinstated again after AA reviewed his documentation.
American Airlines officials medically cleared Tift to return to work in the beginning of 2001. American Airlines required Tift to provide a single urine sample for a substance abuse test. The test returned positive results. Tift was terminated a third time, over his protestations that the test contravened applicable laws and AA policies. Tift was reinstated in January 2003, after arbitrating the matter through his union's grievance procedure. He was required to see an addiction specialist and to submit to random drug testing for two years. Tift had to call into a message system each day during that period to find out whether he was to be tested.
Damages
Tift remains employed by AA in the same position. He claimed pain and suffering, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life, as well as anguish, stress and hypertension as a result of the airline's unfair treatment.
Result
The parties settled before trial for $325,000, $125,000 of which went to Tift while the rest covered his attorney fees.
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