The Law Offices of Victor L. George prevail once again. A Los Angeles jury Friday awarded $1.7 million to a woman who alleged she was fired from an insurance company because she became pregnant.
The Law Offices of Victor L. George prevail once again. A Los Angeles jury Friday awarded $1.7 million to a woman who alleged she was fired from an insurance company because she became pregnant.
The panel concluded that Jessica Stepp, now 41, was the victim of intentional infliction of emotional distress from her bosses at Fidelity National Title Group Inc. Defense attorneys maintained she was fired for poor performance.
Stepp was employed as a vice president and senior trial counsel at FNTG beginning in May 2010. She lost one baby in August 2011 and another in February 2012. She was not fired until six months after the second pregnancy loss.
Her court papers stated that Stepp was contemplating getting pregnant again and that her FNTG supervisors therefore contemplated a reason to fire her, ultimately deciding to blame it on her work performance.
In a sworn declaration, Stepp described herself as a hard worker who was never told her performance was substandard.
“I was never advised that my performance needed to be improved, nor was I ever advised that I might face termination for any reason,” Stepp said.
She said that she was told she was being fired because she had not provided a supervisor with a draft of a motion in a case.
“That reason was false,” Stepp said.
Stepp’s attorney, Victor George, said the verdict was a correct one.
“I’m very happy,” George said.
— City News Service
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