On January 26, 2015, the claims of 10 of the 130 plaintiffs in Andrews, et. al. v. Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, Case No. RG09453596 will be tried to a jury in Alameda County Superior Court, Department 20, before the Honorable Robert B. Freedman. This will be the third trial in the case.
The 10 plaintiffs were scientists and engineers, who had long and distinguished careers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They were laid off in May 2008, shortly after the lab’s privatization by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), which is led by Bechtel Corporation, the multinational construction and engineering company based in San Francisco. In May 2009, 130 employees, represented by the law firm of Gwilliam Ivary Chiosso Cavalli & Brewer, filed suit against LLNS for wrongful termination, breach of contract, age discrimination and other individual claims.
In the Phase 1 trial in early 2013, a jury found that LLNS breached its contracts with five different plaintiffs and awarded more than $2.7 million in damages for their economic loss. In the Phase 2 trial in late 2013, a separate jury found that the layoff did not have a disproportionate impact on employees age 40 and over. Judgment is being entered this week on the five plaintiffs’ claims. As the prevailing parties, the plaintiffs are entitled to recover their costs from LLNS. The plaintiffs will also seek attorneys’ fees and prejudgment interest.
The parties will return to court on May 7, 2014, when the court will rule on the parties’ post-trial motions and hold another case management conference.