Hinshaw Insurance Law TV | Bad Faith Law
II-31- The Changing 9 to 5 From 1980 to Today
Case Involving Burger King Employee Spitting in Officer’s Burger Goes Before WA Supreme Court
One of the main risks that a company faces after a data breach is a potential lawsuit. Plaintiffs often will allege creative statutory and common law theories of harm after they learn that their personal information has been...more
A newly enacted, under-the-radar statute in California could undermine efforts by employers to challenge the expert opinion testimony regarding alleged emotional distress offered by employees at trial. In many if not most...more
A federal court judge pared down last year’s jaw-dropping $137 million damages award against Tesla in a racial bias lawsuit. On April 13, 2022, the judge granted Tesla’s motion for a reduction in the amount of damages in part...more
On 31 January 2022, the English High Court delivered its judgment in Stadler v Currys Group Limited (EWHC 160 (QB)); the latest in a series of rulings which appear set to constrain the relatively nascent UK data breach claims...more
Affirming the largest emotional distress award ever made by the Illinois Human Rights Commission, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District has handed down the first Illinois state court decision affirming a...more
A Black employee complains to Human Resources that her supervisor has directed racial slurs at her. The supervisor is Black too. Is this a defense to liability for the employer under Title VII? Hardly. The Eighth Circuit...more
Yenovkian v. Gulian, 2019 ONSC 7279 is a recent family law decision that is significant beyond the family law context, including in the employment law context. In this decision, Justice Kristjanson of the Ontario Superior...more
In April 2019, the French Supreme Court opened the way for all workers exposed to asbestos to claim compensation for emotional distress, or "anxiety," caused by the fear of contracting a serious disease, even if claimants...more
Employers all over California are once again hearing the siren call of arbitration in the wake of a $15.4 million single-plaintiff verdict that a Los Angeles jury delivered to a former Los Angeles Times sports columnist on...more
In a decision unsurprising to anyone familiar with what California juries have been up to lately, fast-food titan Jack in the Box was ordered to pay $15.4 million (including a staggering $10 million in punitive damages) last...more
The federal watchdog agency that oversees federal antidiscrimination law just scored a milestone victory when a judge awarded $55,500 to a telemarketer who alleged to have been forced off the job because of sexual orientation...more
The number of federal courts allowing plaintiffs to recover emotional distress damages in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) retaliation cases is expanding, with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last month joining two other...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a somewhat rare interlocutory appeal, the Fifth Circuit reviewed and reaffirmed a 40-year old case holding that emotional distress and punitive damages are not available under the ADEA. This decision...more
In Pineda v. JTCH Apartments, L.L.C. (No. 15-10932, December 19, 2016), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuit Courts of Appeals in holding that an employee may recover for emotional distress...more
Resolving a split in the lower courts and deciding an issue of first impression for the Court, the Fifth Circuit earlier this week held that prevailing plaintiffs in FLSA retaliation cases may recover emotional distress...more
On December 19, 2016, the Fifth Circuit joined the Sixth and Seventh Circuits in holding that “employees” under the FLSA may recover emotional distress damages in FLSA retaliation actions, finding that the district court...more
Things have been quiet in the world of punitive damages for the last few months, but two recent decisions substantially reducing punitive awards under the BMW/State Farm factors warrant mention. My colleague Miriam Nemetz...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New Jersey employers were dealt an “emotional” blow when the New Jersey Supreme Court, in Cuevas v. Wentworth Group, affirmed a trial court’s denial of an employer’s request for remittitur of the...more
The court’s decision to restore a $500,000 punitive damages award for failure to adequately address a sexual harassment complaint highlights employers’ duty to investigate every allegation and take appropriate remedial...more
On June 9, 2016, the California Supreme Court ruled in Nickerson v. Stonebridge Life Ins. Co., __ Cal.4th ___ (2016) that the attorneys’ fees awarded to a veteran who sued for benefits under a “hospital stay” policy should be...more
Protections for breastfeeding employees in Puerto Rico just became even stronger. A recent ruling from Puerto Rico’s highest court in Siaca v. Bahía Beach Resort & Golf Club, LLC, held that failing to provide a safe, private,...more