Disabled Woman Awarded $ 15.4 Million Dollars in Landmark Healthcare Suit Against Prudential Insurance Company of America

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 14, 2007

Darla Johnson, represented by Charles Moore and Sean Simpson of Simpson & Moore, LLP was awarded $ 15.4 million dollars in damages by a jury after a five-week trial in the San Diego Superior Court . (Case #GIE018815). Darla Johnson filed suit against Prudential Insurance for the unlawful termination of benefits under Ms. Johnson’s disability insurance policy.

As a project manager in the University of California San Francisco’s construction department, Ms. Johnson bought into a group plan providing coverage for income replacement if she became unable to work. In May 1995, Ms Johnson was diagnosed with Lupus, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome, and had to stop working.

After approximately five years of paying benefits, Prudential terminated Ms. Johnson’s benefits. Two internal appeals were denied, and Ms. Johnson had to file suit to correct the wrongful termination of her policy benefits.

With no benefits and a life changing disability, Mrs. Johnson took Prudential Insurance to court on the basis that they had wrongly terminated her policy. Prudential maintained that Mrs. Johnson’s benefits were properly terminate because Ms. Johnson was unable to provide sufficient objective evidence to substantiate her disability.

The jury in the San Diego Superior Court found Prudential Insurance guilty in wrong fully terminating Mrs. Johnson’s policy. The jury awarded Ms. Johnson back benefits and future benefits totaling $ 982,082.00, plus general damages of $ 500,000.00 for the grief, humiliation and inconvenience caused by the improper termination of benefits and $ 14,000,000 in punitive damages.

“We feel our client has been vindicated by this verdict. This case is a landmark victory for anyone with Lupus, Fibromyalia Syndrome, Chronic Fatigure Syndrome, or other illness or syndrome for which there is limited objective medical evidence,” Charles Moore of Simpson & Moore, LLP explained.

Other syndromes with similar uncertainty of diagnosis include Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome, and Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

“It’s my sincere hope that this verdict will be a stepping stone for others to come forward who have had their insurance benefits wrongfully terminated. Hopefully, now people will know they can fight back, and don’t have to bow down to the powers of the big insurance companies.” Sean Simpson of Simpson & Moore, LLP noted.

The defense attorney for Prudential Insurance plans to appeal the verdict.

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Todd Oldham’s L-7 Designs Adds Wrongful Termination to Claims in Lawsuit Against Old Navy

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 30, 2009

L-7 Designs Inc. and its principal shareholder and President, the designer Todd Oldham, today announced that L-7 Designs has filed additional claims in its pending action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 09CIV.1432(DC), against Old Navy Inc., a Gap Inc. company. In addition to L-7′s prior claims asserting breach of contract and fraud, L-7 is suing Old Navy for wrongful termination of the parties’ Creative Services Agreement.

L-7 alleges that Old Navy breached the Creative Services Agreement with L-7 by failing to negotiate the terms of a License Agreement relating to the production of a Todd Oldham line of branded merchandise as announced by Old Navy in September 2007; Old Navy failed to honor terms of a License Agreement as agreed by both parties in February 2009 and wrongfully induced Todd Oldham to enter into both agreements through multiple misrepresentations; and, Old Navy has deliberately and knowingly jeopardized the integrity of the Todd Oldham marks and the reputation of the designer through its actions and wrongfully terminated the Creative Services Agreement on February 20, 2009 on grounds that L-7′s filing of suit against Old Navy constituted a breach of the Agreement and grounds for termination.

“Over the past 20 years, L-7 Designs has built a successful multi-faceted design business that encompasses fashion, furniture, interior design and accessories, book titles and TV shows, home furnishing collections for Target and a long standing dedication to charitable design work,” said Todd Oldham, President of L-7 Designs. “For the first time in 20 years in business, we have no choice but to enforce L-7′s rights through the courts. We are saddened that it has come to this, however, Old Navy’s attempt to achieve short-term savings appears to have led it to willfully breach our agreements, and wrongfully terminate the Creative Services Agreement.”

The suit seeks measures that will make L-7 whole, including a declaratory judgment that Old Navy violated its agreement with L-7 Designs and an award of actual and compensatory damages arising from Old Navy’s breach.

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, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Wrongful Dismissal Lawsuits Becoming More Common in Ontario

(PRWEB) April 28, 2005

It use to be that you would terminate an employee and provide a severance package and that was that. Not anymore.

Today terminated employees are seeking more money in a trend that sees the courts being used to extend and enhance their severance packages as well as seeking punitive damages. In Toronto, Ontario alone during the first month of the year over 850 wrongful dismissal claims were filed against employers and the trend promises not to let up.

Why is this happening? In most cases employers do not handle terminations properly thus leading to legal wrangling that proves costly to the business and the bottom-line. In essence employers are not up to speed on the laws that impact not only employment but terminations as well.

Employers, whether they are a small firm or a large corporation, are finding they need to have better knowledge and methods for handling employment terminations. While information for this is available on the Internet most of it only provides certain basics and assumes each scenario is the same. This usually leads to even more lawsuits because of misapplication of the available information and lack of proper training to handle terminations. Add to this the fact that advertising for wrongful dismissal in help wanted columns and internet workplace sites with information about terminations and lawyers’ advertisements aimed at the newly unemployed, brings a new dimension to terminations.

Most employers fail to follow simple procedures and rules to ensure an uneventful termination. These procedures included the following steps.

Having effective, legally sound discipline strategies

Creating a paper trail that will hold up in court

Providing proper severance packages (sometimes saving one or two months salary is lost when costs for legal counsel come into play)

Treatment of the employee during the termination process

Knowing the difference between Just cause Vs Constructive dismissal

Dealing with claims of bullying and harassment

Having proper Exit Interviews

Using an outplacement service to mitigate

Employers and HR staff have to be better prepared and more knowledgeable today in dealing with terminations. Seminars such as the one offered by Bernardi Fairbarin ( http://www.bestlaw.ca.), a legal firm in Mississauga Ontario, specializing in HR issues, provides the HR staff of companies and organizations with the tools and a better understanding of handling terminations. And add to this a unique prospective at their seminars from plaintiffs’ lawyer, who as a guest, is as part of the seminar, shares valuable insights. Knowing what you as an employer or HR professional will be facing in the termination of employees is important today, taking the time to learn the best win-win scenario and applying it means you will not be facing the high costs associated with a claim for wrongful dismissal.

To learn more about the seminars contact lauren@bestlaw.ca or vrt@vrt-consultants.com

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

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I was terminated for Violation of Ethical Conduct, according to former Employer,
The State of Arkansas Stated this was not true and started paying unemployment claims. I need a Great Attorney $$$$$$$$$$ could be made from old Employer

i had to quit my job on return to work because employer failed to accomodate change of schedule request to care for ailing spouse, i was forced to resign, any attorneys in san francisco that can talk to me? is there a time limit when i can file the suit? i beleive i have a strong case, this is a city agency