Our Recent Sexual Harassment, Discriminations, and Whistleblower Cases - Punitive Damages Awards in San Diego, California

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 In its unpublished opinion in this sexual harassment case against the two companies, the Court of Appeals ordered the illegal clauses stricken and severed from the agreement, but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.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – April 21, 2005 – Late Thursday afternoon, less than 1/2 hour before the court day ended, a San Diego Jury awarded four girls (ages 19, 19, 19 & 20) $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. Two weeks ago, the same Jury 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.

According to San Francisco attorney Philip Kay, lead counsel on the case and one of California’s most prominent civil rights attorneys, “This verdict puts employers on notice that teenagers have the same protections under the law as adult workers. Some employers think because their workers are under age, they can take advantage of them. This Jury sent a strong message that such cavalier disregard of California’s civil rights laws will not be tolerated.”

Attorney John Dalton, one of the 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.”

The trial team included lead counsel Phil Kay, with John Dalton, Jason Oliver and Larry Organ serving as co-counsel, and Robin Peluso as paralegal. Mr. Kay has handled many high profile discrimination and harassment cases, including representation of legal secretary Rena Weeks in the ground-breaking sexual harassment case, Weeks v. Baker & McKenzie, in 1994 and the $30 million Gober v. Ralphs case in 2002.

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

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