- In Hoyt v. Target Stores, 981 P.2d 188 (Colo. App. 1998), Mr. Podboy represented a supervisory employee whose employment was terminated for paying herself for travel time between stores after the employee’s supervisor refused to pay for the time it took to travel between locations to do accounting work for Target. The jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages to our client which, after appeal, resulted in a payment by Target of over $300,000 for their illegal actions. Because of the appeal that was lost by Target, we established a new exception to the Employment- At-Will rule in Colorado.
- In a federal lawsuit in the Colorado District Court, Mr. Podboy represented Mr. Van Tassel, a 73 year old employee of the Colorado State Department of Corrections in an age discrimination case. In winning the case after a jury trial against the Colorado Attorney General, we successfully argued that he was qualified to be a prison farm supervisor based on his decades of experience as a local farmer and that his termination constituted illegal discrimination. The jury actually wanted our client to have more money than we asked them for!
- Lewis- Game Program- Mr. Podboy represented a local advertiser and handbill publisher who was prevented from handing out his program on the sidewalks outside the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball stadium in Denver, Colorado. The case was based on the publisher’s first amendment right of free speech. We prevailed at the trial, which was broadcast on Court TV, and on appeal to the Colorado State Supreme Court. This was another victory for the right of free speech in Colorado.
- Dram Shop Case– This kind of case is against a liquor seller. In Neyer and Johnson v. Warehouse Liquor Mart, Mr. Podboy the parents of high school child who was killed in a car accident. The driver of the vehicle was underage and intoxicated. The driver had purchased alcohol at a Warehouse Liquor Mart in Arapahoe County, Colorado. The high standard of proof for a plaintiff in such a case meant that we had to show that the liquor seller sold the alcohol “willfully and knowingly” to the underage person. Although there is no law saying a liquor seller has to ask for identification from a purchaser, the false testimony of those representing the liquor store was recognized for what it was by the jury. The jury found the store liable and awarded $3 million to be divided between the damaged families in 2004. Although Colorado law reduced this award, both families felt that they were vindicated by the significant jury award
- Sex Discrimination – Paladin Press – This publisher in Boulder, Colorado, who published Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors, The Anarchist Cookbook, Be Your Own Undertaker: How to Dispose of a Dead Body, and Silencers For Hand Firearms, was practicing sex discrimination against a female employee. We represented her and at trial the jury heard testimony that the owner would wear only a towel after showering at work and supervising female employees. The case trial was in federal court and the case was brought under Title VII. The jury awarded $100,000 to our client, the amount we asked for.