Hollywood creative director wrongfully terminated for reporting boss's coke use; $450,000 verdict; settlement before punitive phase. Los Angeles County.

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  Plaintiff was employed as a creative director for defendant, a Hollywood post-production visual effects company. Plaintiff was terminated from his employment by defendant on March 27, 2009. The night before his termination, plaintiff had complained to a senior executive at the company that his supervisor, Alex Frisch, was using cocaine at work.  Frisch is best known for his visual effects work in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. 

  Frisch has repeatedly denied any such drug use, as reported by the media, and says that any such allegations are false.

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  That plaintiff was wrongfully terminated in violation of public policy for reporting the drug use of his boss, Frisch; that Frisch was the "face of the company" and was responsible for lucrative company-client relationships and instrumental in a pending merger. That plaintiff was fired in order to protect the reputation and employment of his boss so that a pending merger with a larger company would be completed successfully; that Frisch's coke use was well known to others in the company.

  That defendant's contention that plaintiff made a videotape of his boss in the restroom was false. That he had only said, in frustration when his reports of drug use were not taken seriously,  "What do you need me to do to prove it to you, videotape it?"

   

• Defendant's Contentions:

  That plaintiff was terminated for videotaping his boss in the restroom and threatening to put the video on Youtube and for audiotaping another executive of the company without either executive's knowledge or permission.

  That defendant was concerned about protecting the privacy of employees and fired plaintiff for violating privacy by videotaping his boss in a bathroom stall and audiotaping another executive without their knowledge or permission.