Chalk another one up for the Chicago Employment Trial Team of O’Hagan Meyer. On Friday, a Federal court jury in Chicago returned a complete defense verdict for O’Hagan Meyer’s employer client in a personal record of 1.5 hours of deliberations…which included lunch. Trial team members Kevin O’Hagan and Jamie Filipovic led the defense in this Title VII, Equal Pay Act and Retaliation case.  The team attributes the success to developing a strong theme of humanizing the employer and focusing on the very real and difficult job an employer faces in today’s regulatory environment. Making sure the jury holds the claimant to a reasonable level of personal responsibility for their actions and performance while on the job was also key in this victory. The plaintiff had demanded $700,000 to settle before this week-long  trial. Our client was a national collection agency.

This win follows on the heels of two other trial victories this year.  In March, after another week-long trial,  a team of Kevin O’Hagan and Kristine Phillips won in front of Cook County Illinois Judge Raymond Mitchell. The large auto dealer client was very appreciative of this win as it was brought under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act as well as business tort and breach of contract.  A former general manager of several auto dealerships brought this $1.5 million claim against the owner of one of the largest auto dealerships in the Chicagoland area. Key in the defense of this trial win was a complete understanding of the dealership operations and preparation of great company witnesses. The demand in that case was over $1 million at trial.  Also within the same year, Kevin O’Hagan and the team won a Federal court jury trial in the Northern District of Illinois alleging breach of the FLSA and state law counts for wages.

Of the approximate 30 civil employment/business dispute verdicts in the Northern District of Illinois during any one year time period, O’Hagan Meyer has the distinction of winning two of those thirty with a batting average of 1000.

The large majority of employment disputes resolve in settlement. But what you negotiate in settlement has much to do with leverage. O’Hagan Meyer and its employment team stand ready to be your champion and provide the leverage you need to get the best resolution of your employment dispute. If you choose O’Hagan Meyer, the other side will know you mean what you say about the value of the claim.

The firm takes pride in being the champion of employers. We hone our trial craft through conducting mock trials and focus groups throughout the year. Through painstaking research and effort, we have developed themes and strategies for employers that work.