Our Recent Sexual Harassment, Arbitration, and Employment Cases

Orange County, Calif. – February 22, 2011 - In one of our recent cases, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, Divsion 3, approved the trial court's decision refusing to enforce an arbitration agreement authored by the California Association of REALTORS®. Specifically, the court found the agreement contained numerous unfair and unlawful provisions, and that the circumstances surrounding the signing of the agreement were suspect in nature. To read the Court's published decision on arbitration in Wherry v. Award, Inc., click here.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – April 21, 2005 – Less than 1/2 hour before the court day ended, a San Diego Jury awarded four girls, all of whome were minors at the time of the harassment, $1.5 million each in punitive damages against UltraStar Cinemas, a chain of thirteen movie theaters located in and around San Diego and Baja Mexico. The same Jury had awarded $850,000 in emotional distress damages to the four girls.

The case began in 2001 when two UltraStar managers, ages 32 and 22 respectively, began harassing the girls, who were 16 and 17-years old at the time. The plaintiffs’ allegations at trial included defendant’s management putting knives to the throats of the teenage girls, placing them in police-style “restraint” holds (resulting in the dislocation of one plaintiff’s shoulder), commenting on the bodies of and leering at the girls and other theater customers, making repeated inquiries as to whether plaintiffs and others would have sex with customers, inappropriate touching, and use of extreme profanity in the workplace.

The plaintiffs presented evidence at trial that UltraStar’s owner-officers knew about the harassing conduct and were aware of their managers’ propensity for inappropriate conduct, but turned a blind eye and even promoted one of the managers who still works there.

Attorney John Dalton, one of the plaintiffs' co-counsel in the case, noted that “it is time we protected our children from sexual abuse in the work place. I want my daughters to be able to work without the fear that some older manager will try to take advantage of their youth and inexperience. Statistics show that this is a nationwide problem, and we need to take action to prevent it from getting worse.”

On July 15, 2005, trial judge John S. Meyer took away the damages verdict in favor of the four women.

On May 30, 2009, the California Court of Appeal overturned the trial court's decision vacating compensatory, and reinstated the awards in full. To review the Court of Appeal's decision overturning the trial court's decision, in part, click here.

The case is now awaiting retrial as to the amount of punitive damages, only.

COURT OF APPEALS FINDS EL TORITO'S ARBITRATION CLAUSE ILLEGAL

On August 15, 2006, in a sexual harassment case we recently prosecuted against El Torito and Acapulco Restaurants on behalf of three women, the Second District Court of Appeals agreed with our position that an arbitration agreement being used to deprive employees of their right to jury trial contained illegal provisions. In its unpublished opinion in this sexual harassment case against the two companies, the Court of Appeals ordered the illegal clauses stricken and severed from the agreement, but enforced the remainder of the agreement.

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Last Updated: January 2011