Partners Michael Bruno and Alyson Cabrera of GRSM’s San Francisco office recently secured a complete defense verdict for a nonprofit healthcare organization following a jury trial in Humboldt County Superior Court. GRSM’s team included Associate Brittany Greenhill and Paralegal Javier Lopez-Olvera, from the San Francisco Office.
The plaintiff, who suffered from a mental health condition, filed suit against his former employer, a nonprofit healthcare organization. The nonprofit terminated the plaintiff’s employment after it determined that the plaintiff could not perform the essential functions of a substance use disorder counselor without reasonable accommodation.
The plaintiff asserted claims for disability discrimination, failure to engage in the good faith interactive process, failure to accommodate his disability, and retaliation. He asked the jury for significant future wage loss and one million dollars in emotional distress. At trial, Michael and Alyson vigorously defended the nonprofit, arguing that it terminated the plaintiff’s employment for legitimate reasons. The nonprofit put patient care first in determining that it could not return the plaintiff to work following a 15-week medical leave of absence. Michael and Alyson argued that the nonprofit reasonably relied on the information from the plaintiff’s health care provider in concluding that it could not reasonably accommodate the plaintiff given his sweeping limitations resulting from his disability, and his resulting inability to perform the essential functions of his job.
After deliberating for about two hours, the jury found no liability, and the nonprofit healthcare organization received a complete defense verdict.