2 Million Dollar Verdict in Employment Matter

On June 6, 2003, a federal jury in Cleveland, Ohio awarded a verdict in the amount of $2,000,000.00 for a Medina man against his former employer. Mr. Robert Stanners was represented by Richard Selby and Gary Okin of Dworken & Bernstein Co., L.P.A.. Mr. Stanners prevailed on claims against A.I. Root Company arising out of violations of federal and state laws which prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for opposing age and disability discrimination.

Mr. Stanners had been the Chief Operating Officer of the A.I. Root Company for over six years and had been employed with the company in a managerial capacity for over ten years. During Mr. Stanners's tenure the company's total sales had grown from $10,000,000 to over $27,000,000 per year. The company's income during that time had increased from 1.4% to 10% of sales.

Stanners testified that John Root, owner of the company, told him to fire one of the company's plant managers because Root felt that the plant manager was getting too old and may have been coming down with Alzheimer's. Stanners verbally and through a written memo, advised his employer that terminating an employee because of his age or potential disability violated both state and federal law. After refusing to fire the plant manager based on those reasons, Stanners was terminated.

At trial, the employer attempted to argue that Mr. Stanners was terminated as part of an economic downsizing. The jury rejected that contention, and found that Mr. Stanners had been terminated in retaliation for opposing the company's efforts to terminate the plant manager in violation of federal and state age and disability discrimination statutes. The jury awarded Mr. Stanners $400,000 in back pay, $500,000 in emotional distress, $1,100,000 in punitive damages against the employer. Mr. Stanners's attorneys from the law firm of Dworken & Bernstein Co., L.P.A. also submitted a petition for an additional attorney fee award in excess of $300,000 which has yet to be ruled on by the court.