Call Us Now
Email Us Now
$25,142,000 Jury Verdict for Whistleblower Retaliation
Babyak v. Cardiovascular Systems Inc. (LASC Case No. BC601259).
Acting as lead trial counsel, Robert Odell obtained a historic, $25,142,000.00 whistleblower jury verdict on behalf of a medical device sales manager, Steve Babyak, who was retaliated against and terminated just weeks after voicing concerns of a potentially illegal kickback scheme.
The Jury was unanimous in its findings of liability as well as a finding of malice, awarding an additional $22,400,000.00 in punitive damages against defendant Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., who was represented by a large, multinational employment defense firm. The award, which was featured in the Daily Journal and Law360, is believed to be one of the largest single-plaintiff Whistleblower Retaliation verdicts in California history and subsequently became the basis of a Federal securities class action against the defendant CSI.
At just 31 years of age, it is believed that Mr. Odell became the youngest attorney in U.S. history to obtain an eight-figure employment verdict as lead trial counsel.
Shortly after, Mr. Odell was named as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal – California’s largest and most prominent legal publication.
$2,000,000 Jury Verdict & Award for Harassment and Discrimination
Mayo v. Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles (LASC Case No. BC486184).
In his very first jury trial at just 28 years of age, attorney Robert Odell obtained a $1,377,000.00 jury verdict on behalf of a 60-year old resident manager who was harassed and discriminated against after reporting religious discrimination at work. After reporting the illegal discrimination and harassment, Mrs. Mayo was retaliated against, written-up for poor performance, and then terminated for alleged insubordination.
After over a year of protracted litigation, Defendant made no serious offer to settle. Mr. Odell took the case to trial and prevailed on all causes of action, including Retaliation, Failure to Prevent Retaliation, Disability Discrimination, Failure to Prevent Disability Discrimination and Violation of the California Family Rights Act. The court subsequently approved an Attorneys’ Fee motion for an additional $613,000.00. The verdict also secured Mr. Odell as one of the youngest attorneys to ever obtain a seven-figure employment verdict as lead trial counsel.
$980,000 Jury Verdict & Award for Disability Discrimination
Snead v. Chino Valley Unified School District (San Bernardino Case No. CIVRS 1101184).
In his second jury trial ever, Mr. Odell obtained a $550,000.00 jury verdict on behalf of a 65-year-old disabled school custodian who was terminated after he was injured on the job and could no longer use ladders. At trial, Mr. Odell was able to prove that ladder use was not an essential function of Mr. Snead’s job as a night custodian and that the District willingly failed to accommodate his simple work restriction in order to justify his termination. The court later approved an Attorneys’ Fee motion for an additional $429,403.00. Before trial, Defendant’s maximum offer for settlement was just $20,000 as they insisted there was zero risk of a successful plaintiff’s verdict. Mr. Odell also represented Mr. Snead in the Fourth District Court of Appeal after the District appealed the verdict. After successfully briefing the case, the Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the verdict and awarded additional costs and attorneys’ fees to Mr. Snead.
$1,500,000 Whistleblower Retaliation Settlement
Odell Law obtained a $1.5M settlement on behalf of a woman who was retaliated against and fired after complaining of unlawful wage practices to her employer. After nearly six months of negotiations, the client’s previous lawyer was not able to obtain any significant settlement offer from the company and was advising the client to accept an offer in the low six-figures. Realizing that she needed an experienced trial attorney to put pressure on her employer, the client then retained Odell Law to take her case forward into litigation. Within weeks of doing so, the employer and its attorneys abruptly changed course and began to engage in serious settlement negotiations for the first time, ultimately resulting in the seven-figure settlement above
$1,000,000 Disability Discrimination Settlement
Odell Law was able to secure a $1M settlement on behalf of a client who was “managed out” of her job immediately after taking medical leave of absence. After returning from her medical leave, the company quickly placed the client on a Performance Improvement Plan citing numerous false and/or exaggerated “performance problems.” Within two months, the company terminated her employment despite her solid performance and past stellar performance reviews. Odell Law filed and vigorously litigated the case for three years with no settlement offer from Defendant, who was represented by a large employment defense firm with more than 1,000 attorneys. After obtaining strong evidence and testimony to support Plaintiff’s claims and aggressively pushing the case towards trial, Defendant ultimately paid a seven-figure amount to resolve the claims
$800,000 Pregnancy Discrimination Case Settlement
Attorney Robert Odell represented a 32-year-old woman who was harassed, discriminated against and wrongfully terminated by a major hospital due to her pregnancy and pregnancy-related disability. Mr. Odell litigated the case for over two years against an aggressive, multinational employment defense firm with over 2,000 attorneys. After taking several key depositions, filing numerous motions to compel and defeating Defendant’s 800-page Summary Judgment motion, Mr. Odell was able to obtain highly-damaging evidence which proved vital to securing such a large settlement. At the outset of the case, the Defendant refused to engage in settlement discussions as its counsel (repeatedly) insisted there was “absolutely zero liability” – even claiming that Mr. Odell was “doing a disservice” to his client for taking the case forward into litigation.
$750,000 Sexual Harassment & Wrongful Termination Case Settlement
Employment Attorney Robert Odell obtained a $750,000.00 pre-litigation settlement for a woman who was fired after rejecting her boss’ repeated sexual advances and verbal abuse. Plaintiff was a dedicated employee for many years but was forced to endure sexual harassment and verbal abuse from her boss since he was the sole owner of the company and constantly held her job in jeopardy as leverage to tolerate his behavior. The company denied the existence of any sexual harassment and claimed that Plaintiff was instead fired for “performance problems.” This, however, was contradicted by several current and former employees including Plaintiff’s long record as a stellar employee
$500,000 Sexual Harassment Case Settlement
Odell Law obtained a $500,000.00 pre-litigation settlement on behalf of a woman who was sexually harassed by her former boss and resigned from her position following the incident. Mr. Odell was able to obtain a large settlement despite Defendant’s argument that plaintiff had willingly flirted with the her boss leading up to the incident.
$500,000 Workplace Retaliation Case Settlement
Attorney Robert Odell obtained a $500,000.00 pre-litigation settlement on for an Asian-American man who was retaliated against and terminated after reporting workplace threats and racially-charged comments by his coworkers. The Defendant employer attempted to paint Mr. Odell’s client in a negative light by accusing him of various “workplace safety infractions” and using those faux infractions to justify his termination. Mr. Odell was able to show that numerous other employees were committing the same infractions but were not punished and that the harasser was barely disciplined for his repeated threats of violence and racial slurs.
$475,000 Medical Leave Case Settlement
After several years of protracted litigation, Mr. Odell obtained a $475,000 settlement for a 44-year-old woman who was terminated by a major hospital after she exhausted her 12 weeks of FMLA leave. At the outset, Defendant’s lawyers refused to engage in any settlement discussion whatsoever, insisted that the case was “meritless” and promised that Defendant would “never pay a single penny.” Mr. Odell immediately took the case into litigation and obtained damaging evidence showing that the company could have easily accommodated Plaintiff with additional medical leave, but simply chose not to. After protracted litigation involving multiple motions to compel and having Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment reversed by the Court of Appeal, Defendant abruptly changed course and pushed for settlement in order to avoid trial.
$450,000 Whistleblower Case Settlement
Mr. Odell represented a 37-year-old medical device sales manager who was terminated shortly after blowing the whistle on illegal sales strategies and possible kickbacks to doctors. Given Mr. Odell’s past success with whistleblower cases, Defendant agreed to pay a high settlement amount in order to avoid litigation and trial.
$400,000 Medical Leave Case Settlement
Odell Law, PLC together with co-counsel, Ali Bushra of the Bushra Law Firm, PC, obtained a $400,000 settlement for a 63-year-old woman who was terminated from a restaurant chain after she tried to return from a medical leave of absence. The company’s attorney had sent intimidating letters to the employee and (falsely) claimed that she had “not been terminated,” even though the restaurant had taken her completely off the schedule many months earlier.
$375,000 Sexual Harassment Case Settlement
Attorney Robert Odell represented a 32-year-old restaurant hostess who resigned after being sexually harassed by her coworker on multiple occasions. At the outset, Defendant insisted that the case was “worthless” since plaintiff had voluntarily resigned. Defendant also doubled down by producing multiple statements from Plaintiff’s coworkers, falsely accusing her of “drinking on the job” and “soliciting other employees for sex.” After filing the case in court and aggressively pushing the matter towards trial, Mr. Odell obtained a settlement for over twenty times of the Defendant’s original offer.
$350,000 Whistleblower Case Settlement
Mr. Odell obtained a highly favorable, pre-litigation settlement for a 45-year-old logistics manager who was terminated shortly after voicing concerns about potentially unethical and illegal accounting practices.
Disclaimer:
Each recovery listed above was the result of the individual facts and circumstances of each particular case. No two cases are alike and no result is ever guaranteed. None of the above information is to serve as a guarantee, benchmark or expectation of the value of your case. Each case is evaluated on the merits, which includes a multitude of complex factors that can also change over time as the case and information develops. The above descriptions of past legal matters handled by Odell Law, PLC and/or attorney Robert A. Odell do not guarantee or predict similar results for any future matter.
949-771-8173
Contact Us