Jan. 05--A judge on Tuesday voided the remaining $5 million of a $7.1-million jury award to a former Los Angeles Times sports columnist, ruling that he was not entitled to any damages -- including those for emotional distress -- on his claims that the newspaper discriminated against him because of his age and a disability, according to the newspaper's attorneys.
The bench ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William A. MacLaughlin, came a day after his written order cutting $2.1 million in economic damages based on T.J. Simers' claim that he was forced out of his $234,000-a-year job.
The jury's verdict in early November capped a six-week trial that keyed on several issues, including whether Simers was forced out of his job, as he claimed, or left the paper of his own will after he was disciplined for not fully disclosing a conflict of interest, as his editors contended.
On Monday, MacLaughlin ruled that there was little or no evidence to support the jury's conclusion on Simers' claim of constructive termination, namely that the newspaper had created or permitted intolerable working conditions. Instead, the judge ruled, Simers had quit of his own accord.
"An employee who is demoted is not simply permitted to quit and sue because they do not like the new assignment," he wrote Monday. "While it may be a difficult experience to be criticized and demoted, an employee's embarrassment and hurt feelings do not transform a resignation into a constructive discharge."
The judge's written ruling said there was "substantial evidence" to support Simers' discrimination claims, but did not address the issue of damages. At a hearing Tuesday, MacLaughlin acknowledged that his initial ruling was ambiguous and said the discrimination claims would have to be retried, because jurors awarded the $5 million for emotional distress based, to some extent, on their erroneous conclusion that Simers had been forced out.
The judge, who also ordered a retrial on the constructive termination claim, said he would reissue his written ruling Tuesday, adding language to clarify his decision on the damages for emotional distress.
Simers could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Carney Shegerian, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Simers, 65, joined The Times in 1990 as a sports writer and left 23 years later as a columnist. He alleged in his lawsuit and at trial that his troubles began after he suffered what was initially diagnosed as a mini-stroke in March 2013 while covering baseball spring training in Arizona. He later was diagnosed with complex migraine syndrome.
After his health problems surfaced, Simers contended, his work came under increased scrutiny and criticism by Times Editor Davan Maharaj and Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin.
In May 2013, the newspaper cut Simers' three weekly columns to two in an effort to improve their quality, citing several recent ones that were "poorly written or reflected poorly" on the newspaper.
The next month, Simers was suspended with pay after the Sports Business Journal reported that he and television producer Mike Tollin were developing a comedy based loosely on the writer's life. Times editors said Simers had violated the newspaper's ethics guidelines on conflicts of interest by not fully disclosing his business relationship with Tollin, who had made a short video featuring the columnist, his daughter and NBA star Dwight Howard.
Simers maintained that his immediate supervisors knew of his relationship with Tollin and that the sitcom project was dead.
In August 2013, after an internal investigation, Simers' editors told him his column was being taken away and that he would become a reporter, keeping his full pay and benefits. They later offered him a one-year contract to resume his column, on the condition that he agree to abide by the paper's ethics guidelines.
Simers instead resigned Sept. 6, 2013, a day after accepting a job at the Orange County Register with a salary of $190,000.
The next month he sued The Times, alleging that his working conditions were so unbearable he could not return and that he was, in effect, fired. He also claimed he was subjected to discrimination because of his age and a disability.
The Times called his discrimination claims baseless and contended that Simers quit of his own accord.
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