{"id":1017,"date":"2015-07-31T18:02:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T18:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2015-07-31T18:02:45","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T18:02:45","slug":"time-warner-seeks-new-trial-after-2-7-million-workplace-injury-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/time-warner-seeks-new-trial-after-2-7-million-workplace-injury-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"Time Warner Seeks New Trial After $2.7 Million Workplace Injury Judgment."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When <\/span><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/iogo4kLHCGE\"><span style=\"color: #0563c1; font-family: Times New Roman;\">workplace injuries<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> occur, employers have a common law duty to provide some semblance of accommodations to the injured employee. <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">If an employer is found liable for failure to accommodate, the compensatory and punitive damages can quickly add up to a large sum. <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Such an incident has caused Time Warner to seek a new trial regarding a lawsuit brought by one of its former warehouse workers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PjBZOOW-vik\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>On June 12, plaintiff Patricia Hancock of Compton, California won a $2.7 million judgment after a jury found that Time Warner failed to accommodate her for an on-the-job injury. <\/strong>The Los Angeles Superior Court jury, however, rejected her causes of action for wrongful termination, retaliation, disability discrimination and defamation. Despite the jury\u2019s verdict, Time Warner sought favorable judgment through post-trial remedies arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support Hancock\u2019s claims for failure to accommodate, failure to engage in the interactive process and the award of punitive damages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">According to a Los Angeles Daily News article, <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">the jury awarded $692,545 in compensatory damages and a little over $2 million in punitive damages<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Part of Hancock\u2019s job at Time Warner\u2019s Bellflower warehouse was to pull pallets of cable boxes weighing hundreds of pounds.<\/span><strong><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">She claimed that, at the age of 59, <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">she suffered a neck injury in August of 2011 and reported it to her supervisor who brushed off the report<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">. Upon getting home, she took a Hydrocodone painkiller she had left over from a prior surgery. Subsequently, Hancock was unable to pick up her granddaughter from after-school activities, cook for herself, or wash dishes that day. The next day, she requested leave time from her supervisor, who told her to come in for a drug test.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After receiving the results, the supervisor reported to Time Warner human resources that Hancock tested positive for illegal drugs and thereby violated the company\u2019s drug-free policy. <\/span><strong><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">Hancock was fired less than two weeks after reporting her disability.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you or a family member has suffered a <\/span><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/boston-massachusetts-workers-compensation-claims-lawyers-attorneys.php\"><span style=\"color: #0563c1; font-family: Times New Roman;\">workplace injury<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> and need legal assistance, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">please email us at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/boston-massachusetts-contact-gilbert-hoy-lawyers-attorneys.php\"><strong><em>info@gilhoylaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a> or call 617-787-3700 now to speak with one of our <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/boston-massachusetts-personal-injury-types-lawyers-attorneys.php\"><span style=\"color: #0563c1; font-family: Times New Roman;\">Massachusetts personal injury<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong> and tort law specialists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When workplace injuries occur, employers have a common law duty to provide some semblance of accommodations to the injured employee. If an employer is found liable for failure to accommodate, the compensatory and punitive damages can quickly add up to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/time-warner-seeks-new-trial-after-2-7-million-workplace-injury-judgment\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29,26,28,4,13,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1018,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017\/revisions\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gilhoylaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}