The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

64-year-old man Awarded $26 Million in Age Discrimination Case Against Staples

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Larry Bodine
legal news for consumers

The employee explained how he became the regular butt of jokes at staff meetings and was referred to as “old coot” and “old goat.”

A jury in Los Angeles ordered Staples Contract and Commercial, Inc. and Staples, Inc. to pay more than $26.1 million to a man who was a victim of wrongful termination and age discrimination.

According to plaintiff lawyer, Carney Shegerian of Shegerian & Associates, Inc., a Santa Monica-based litigation law firm specializing in employee rights, this is the largest employment related award of its kind in Los Angeles legal history, breaking the previous record of $21.6 million, set last year by another Shegerian & Associates client.

The jury found that supervising managers at Staples discriminated against Bob Nickel based upon his age. Shegerian was able to show that this termination was wrongful and had followed a series of discriminatory and harassing events.

Nickel, a 64-year old man at the time of his termination, was employed by Corporate Express since August, 2002 as a facilities manager. Staples Contract and Staples Inc. acquired Corporate Express in 2008. For nine years, Nickel received regularly positive reviews for performing his work in an exemplary manner.

Because Corporate Express’ pay scale had been higher than the pay scale for employees hired by Staples, Nickel alleged in his complaint that his mangers noted that they needed to “get rid of” older, higher paid employees. Nickel’s complaint also explained how he became the regular butt of jokes at staff meetings and was referred to as “old coot” and “old goat.”

Among the compelling evidence Shegerian presented during the trial was the fact that after Nickel refused to resign voluntarily when prompted to by a manager, he underwent a series of false accusations and increasing levels of harassment from co-workers and a manager. This included being written up and suspended for “stealing,” after taking a bell pepper valued at 68 cents from the company cafeteria. Further, a receptionist had approached Nickel explaining she had been ordered by management to provide a false statement about Nickel’s conduct but she refused to do so. Regardless, Nickel was fired on July 29, 2011.

“It’s been a privilege to have had the opportunity to represent Mr. Nickel,” said Shegerian. “He has a long history of being a hard working, ethical professional who had held his position of employment for almost a decade prior to his wrongful termination. This verdict and the justice served will hopefully put employers on notice that they cannot discriminate against employees based on age.”

“Thanks to the hard work and excellent representation by Carney Shegerian and the Shegerian and Associates team, my story was told and justice prevailed,” said Nickel. “Hopefully this verdict will send a strong message to employers that they cannot discriminate against older workers.”

An experienced trial attorney and Trial Lawyer of the Year Award winner for 2013, Shegerian has tried many jury trials to verdict in both state and federal court, representing individuals that have suffered financial or emotional losses and have been wronged by employers, including major corporations. Shegerian built his career on helping those who have been wronged in the workplace. His remarkable success rate is highlighted by over 68 jury trial wins, including 28 seven figure verdicts representing employees.

Posted in Blog

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the United States has[Read More...]
Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

Bingen, Wash.-based Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it used recycl[Read More...]
Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

DEUTSCHE Bank AG agreed to pay US$130 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it bribed foreign officials and manip[Read More...]
Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing has agreed to pay just over $2.5 billion to resolve a federal charge of “criminal misconduct” for how its [Read More...]
Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has le[Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.