Harold Hjelm v. Litton Industries, Inc.
Published: Nov. 14, 1998 | Result Date: Sep. 16, 1998 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 399540 – $0
Facts
Plaintiff Harold Hjelm, a 62+-year-old operations manager began working for defendant in 1955 after graduating from college. He worked his way up from an assembler, earning $1.25 per hour, to operations manager, earning nearly $100,000 annually by the time of his layoff. One month before his position was eliminated, plaintiff received the largest bonus of his career, nearly $10,000. The plaintiff was laid off without warning in February 1996. The reduction in force which plaintiff's employment ended affected five employees; a sixth was informed that he was to be laid off, but was retained after plaintiff complained of age discrimination. The reduction in force was based upon the recommendation of a 35-year-old operations manager who had been in his position about two weeks. The acting general manager who decided on the layoff assumed his position only three weeks before. Before the decision was made, the acting general manager asked the human resources director to prepare a list of all workers age 60 and older. A planning document described management as growing older and emphasized the need to develop younger workers. Current and former employees testified that management personnel referred to longtime employees as "dinosaurs." The plaintiff sued for age discrimination, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, breach of implied contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Two weeks before trial, the court granted plaintiff's motion to add a cause of action for retaliation for plaintiff's protests against age discrimination.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff demanded $500,000 at the mandatory settlement conference on Aug. 20, 1998, and raised his demand to $600,000 at the start of trial.
Specials in Evidence
$236,000 $477,015
Damages
The plaintiff sought $725,000 in economic damages and an unspecified amount of emotional distress and punitive damages.
Other Information
The verdict was reached approximately two years after the case was filed. A mediation was held on Oct. 3, 1997, before Mark Rudy of Rudy, Excelrod, Zieff & True, did not result in settlement.
Deliberation
one day
Poll
9-3
Length
eight days
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