A Los Angeles Superior Court Jury this week returned a defense verdict in a case involving a City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation worker suing the City for $2 million alleging retaliation and discrimination. The case was successfully defended by Deputy City Attorneys Adena Hadar and Casey Chon of the City Attorney’s Civil Litigation Branch.
On December 30, 2009, after a trial involving approximately twenty witnesses spanning over a four-week period, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a unanimous verdict in favor of the City of Los Angeles and Bureau of Sanitation division manager Richard Myles.
In this case, Plaintiff Joel Zuniga sued the City of Los Angeles for approximately $2 million in damages alleging that he was a victim of race discrimination, race harassment, retaliation, and for failure to prevent race discrimination and/or race harassment in the workplace. The complaint was filed following Zuniga’s termination from the Bureau of Sanitation. The jury concluded the City had acted appropriately in the handling of Zungia’s termination and subsequent appeal through the Civil Service process.
Photo: Nigel Skeet
