Posted on 12/11/2005 3:13:28 PM PST by tresfix
Yes, but Bruce Willis is not a liberal.
Ping me on that if ya will....me and money go almost as far back as me and food.......:o)
Roger, Wilco.
Yike, I forgot, you're right.
The lawyers gets 40%, Uncle Sam gets 20%
Nice racket
I really appreciate your post. BF is 12 years younger, because most guys my age can't keep up:-) I really appreciate your giving your wife credit too. That's something I try to do for my whole family - encourage diet and exercise. I don't often see family members taking the time to give credit to wife/mother this way.
I really appreciate your post. BF is 12 years younger, because most guys my age can't keep up:-) I really appreciate your giving your wife credit too. That's something I try to do for my whole family - encourage diet and exercise. I don't often see family members taking the time to give credit to wife/mother this way.
I really appreciate your post. BF is 12 years younger, because most guys my age can't keep up:-) I really appreciate your giving your wife credit too. That's something I try to do for my whole family - encourage diet and exercise. I don't often see family members taking the time to give credit to wife/mother this way.
My wife says: Thank you for you kind words!
She taken great care of me for over 27 years. :)
UPDATE:
Chief Pilot for Bruce Willis and Demi Moore Suffered Age Discrimination and Wrongful Dismissal, Jury Says
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ --
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- After a three week trial, a 12-person jury returned a total verdict of $63,889,000 in Los Angeles Superior Court today, finding that the luxury air charter company PrivatAir had unlawfully discriminated against Captain Doyle Baker by using his age as a motivating factor in his termination. The jury also found that PrivatAir and flight crew members had defamed and intentionally inflicted severe emotional distress on Captain Baker, who served as chief pilot to movie stars Demi Moore and Bruce Willis during his employment at PrivatAir.
"This verdict should remind all employers that refusing to treat older employees fairly can be very costly," said Michael L. Kelly, the lawyer who represented Captain Baker at trial. "This company was more concerned with the image they project to their wealthy clientele than with giving a fair deal to an experienced employee with a perfect flying record."
Click here to find out more!
The suit, filed last year by the then-63-year-old Captain Doyle D. Baker, alleged that PrivatAir violated the California Fair Housing and Employment Act when it terminated his employment on July 22, 2004. Willis and Moore had retained PrivatAir to manage their Gulfstream II aircraft.
In the suit, Captain Baker claimed that PrivatAir, two other pilots and a flight attendant had conspired to defame and inflict severe emotional distress upon him. A highly decorated veteran of 242 combat missions, and a pilot with a perfect military and civilian flight record, he was terminated by PrivatAir after a flight attendant serving on the aircraft sent a letter to Willis, Moore, and PrivatAir accusing Capt. Baker of serious safety violations and portraying him as suffering from mental problems, feeble minded and too old to continue to fly.
During pretrial discovery, the flight attendant admitted that he had not written the letter, but that the other two pilots employed by PrivatAir had. Evidence was presented at trial in support of Captain Baker's allegation of a conspiracy among the flight crew, assisted by PrivatAir, to replace Captain Baker with a younger pilot, who was a personal friend of one of the defendant pilots.
The jury verdict, rendered in two phases in the Downtown Los Angeles Courtroom of the Honorable Judge Joseph Kalin, awarded Captain Baker back pay, future loss of earnings, pain and suffering and emotional distress damages in the total amount of $53,885,000.00 and subsequently rendered an additional award of punitive damages in the amount of $10,014,000.00.
Captain Doyle Baker remains a highly qualified pilot in good standing with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mr. Michael L. Kelly is a partner with Kirtland & Packard LLP, a full service law firm with offices in Los Angeles (El Segundo) San Francisco and New York. The firm handles a variety of complex litigation matters.
They must pay pretty well for him to get $53M in back pay and future earnings.
I'm sure if this was me I would say the company got what they deserved but since it's not me, I say the jury who awarded this much cash was insane.
I dunno....
Yep, it is nasty. The co-workers did to him what the FAA did to Bob Hoover.
I was the Jury forewoman on this case. Just to let everyone know that after hearing the evidence I was sooo deeply disturbed by the wrong that was done to Captain Baker that I as well as the other jurors felt no shame in awarding the damages. I came by this website when I was searching for any articles on the web about the case. The damages were so high to send a message to PrivatAir. They not only discriminated against Captain Baker in regards to age but to cover up the offense with fake allegations they actively attempted to have the FAA ground him (which failed) but also defamed him and destroyed his reputation. I was not only disgusted but appalled at this behavior. The award was given knowing that he would not get that much but we wanted to let PrivatAir and others involved know that next time they should follow the LAW when dealing with employees. Above all else if you make a mistake settle with the man out of court and do not waste weeks of my time spent on jury duty only for me to be more disgusted as each day dragged on.
What if the award isn't overturned and the company involved must file bankruptcy?!?! That means no more jobs for lots of employees not even involved with these mis-deeds.
To paraphrase Samual Goldwyn, you want to send a message, go get Western Union.
Fine, I wasn't there and didn't hear the case. I concede you are the FR Nexpert on this case.
Still $53+ million is extreme and I wonder how all the other employees will feel when PrivatAir goes belly up and they all lose their jobs.
Tort reform is badly needed in this country.
Fine, I wasn't there and didn't hear the case. I concede you are the FR expert on this case.
Still $53+ million is extreme and I wonder how all the other employees will feel when PrivatAir goes belly up and they all lose their jobs.
Tort reform is badly needed in this country.
First so that you all know PrivatAir was not the only one sued. There were several parties sued and the total for everyone came to 53 million. As far as sending a message Punitive Damages are awarded to send a message. The judges instructions stated that Punitive damages are there to punish thru monetary means and it's only purpose is to punish and send a message by making a corporation pay. Their punitive damages came to 10 million dollars. Each entity had to give a financial accounting of what they were capapble of paying without going bankrupt and theirs was 15 million they were hit with 10 million. The sad part of it was that Captain Baker was willing to settle for $660,000 his retirement. They refused offered him $75,000 and told him to lawyer up. PrivatAir along with API and 5 other parties were given Punitive damages according to their finances. Some as little as $1500.00. The punitive they must pay because they broke the law with age discrimination. The other awards can be appealed or settled on. Which is what Captain Baker wanted in the first place. They didnt care about bankrupting him did they? They didnt care about how his family would survive due to their illegal acts and even when he wanted to settle the situation they laughed at him because they thought he was a cheap person and wouldnt get a lawyer. Evidence showed this because they were emailing each other and taking pleasure in what Captain Baker was going through and commenting on how he wont get a lawyer to combat what they had done to him. Okay so NOW everyone feels sorry for them. That amazes me. These corporations and people involved had SEVERAL opportunities to correct what they had done and not end up in court. Even throughout the month or so I served on jury duty they continued to lie on the stand. Emails and depositions proved they were lying and when caught the never said anything. Their attorneys had horrible witnesses an expert they hired that actually agreed with Captain Baker and the worse is they would laugh openly in court when cruel emails or testimony especially by John Kaylor was given. The whole thing was not only wrong but close to down right mean and sadistic. Sorry if you dont agree but Captain Baker will most likely walk away with the punitive 10 million and trust me PrivatAir has it. When Enron happened we all saw how employees depended on the company and it's executives to obey the law and do things correctly. When they don't bad things happen to the employees. The only ones the employess and even society should be upset with is the company who knows the law and willfully violates it and then attempts to cover it up.
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