Plaintiff Did Not Prevail On His Monetary Claims, And No Injunction/Declaratory Relief Found Against Defendants.
After obtaining a jury’s favorable answer to whether plaintiff’s physical condition was a substantial motivating reason for his termination, the jurors found against plaintiff on whether the conduct was a substantial factor in causing harm to plaintiff. Plaintiff then moved to recover $454,857.90 in attorney’s fees under the FEHA fee-shifting statute from the defense, a request denied by the trial judge.
That conclusion was sustained on appeal in Bustos v. Global P.E.T., Inc., Case No. E065869 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 22, 2017) (unpublished). The problem is that a FEHA award is discretionary, and plaintiff never prevailed--although the defense did. No injunction or declaratory relief was entered against the defense, such that the one favorable verdict answer did not justify a fee award in these circumstances.
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