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Legal Briefs
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Business New Haven
4/6/1998
By: BNH
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Electric Boat Is Still Alive...
After almost three weeks of testimony and two days of deliberation, a former quality control director of Electric Boat Corp. (formerly General Dynamics) has been awarded $775,000 by a jury in Jewett v. General Dynamics Corp. When the employee was demoted in 1992, he allegedly had no idea that his superiors felt his work to be unsatisfactory, and thereafter sued for loss of benefits, even though no written contract existed and his base pay of more than $80,000 remained unchanged. In a novel claim, Jewett's attorney argued successfully that the company breached an implied employment contract between them. Can you say “windfall”?
...And Well - at Least in
the Law Biz Arena
Finding a violation of the Labor Management Reporting & Disclosure Act (LMRDA) by Local 614 of the AFL-CIO's International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers & Helpers, federal judge Alan H. Nevas declared the Local's April 1996 elections void and ordered that they take place anew under the supervision of the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Specifically, Nevas decided that the local, which primarily represents Electric Boat's boilermaker employees, ran afoul of one of the LMRDA's rule - that union rules governing who is eligible to run for union office are not so restrictive as to prevent candidates who might oppose incumbents. In the 1996 balloting, only two percent of the local's 1,167 members were deemed eligible.
No Holes Were Burnt
in Their Pockets
Imagine that you are a shareholder in a large corporation which was ordered to pay a former employee hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages due to racial discrimination. You are told not to worry because the company is appealing, but then learn that the judge is requiring that the award be paid while the appeal is pending. The next thing you know, you hear that the bank has paid the money to the employee out of the company's account and that, because the attorneys for the company mailed the appeal instead of showing up at the appeals court to demand that the judge's order about payment be reversed, virtually all of the money has been spent. Think you might look for a new lawyer?
Dream on, taxpayers. BNH readers may recall the reporting of a racial discrimination award to former state trooper Harold Evans (see “Guess Who's Paying?” June 30, 1997). The series of mishaps that have followed the $877,000 judgment continues: On September 4, federal judge Constance Baker Motley denied Connecticut's request that the judgment amount not be awarded while the state appealed the case. The state did not file an appeal by September 16, so Fleet Bank disbursed the money to the sheriff who worked for Evans' attorney. Also on September 16, virtually all of the money was distributed among Evans, his attorney and the sheriff. When, on September 17, the federal appeals court ordered that the funds be placed in an escrow account pending the outcome of the state's appeal, only either $5,059 or $131,350 (depending on whose interpretation of the appeals court order one uses) remained to go into escrow. In February, a former federal judge sitting as a special master found that no contempt had occurred in the disbursement of funds, but ordered that Evans and his attorney, William M. Laviano, execute a non-surety bond for the amount in question. The appeal has yet to be considered, so stay tuned for the next round, folks...
You May Need the Guide To Figure Out How To Get It
Now available from Law Journal Seminars-Press is an up-to-date legal guide entitled Doing Business on the Internet at the 30-percent discounted price of $68.60. For a full table of contents, more information or to order, you may go on-line at http://www.lawcatalog.com/internet or call 800-888-8380, ext. 6000 .
Speaking of net sites, the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA) now has one: http://www.ct-tla.org
LAW CALENDAR
CTLA presents a seminar entitled Employment Litigation. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. April 25 at the Radisson Hotel, 100 Berlin Rd.,Cromwell . $165-$245. Call 860-522-4345.
The New Haven County Bar Association is planning several seminars during the months of April and May, details of which were unavailable at press time. If you are interested in any of these tentatively scheduled events - “Legal Ethics” (April 16), “Employment Claims” (April 28), “Education Law” (May 5) or “Business Entity Selection” (May 19) - call 203-562-9652.
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