Illinois
Jury awards $2.6M to 3 county workers fired by clerk
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — A jury has awarded more than $2.6 million to three former Lake County employees who claimed the county circuit court clerk fired them because they supported her opponent in the 2016 election.
One of Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Erin Cartwright Weinstein’s first acts after taking office in December 2016 was to fire three former top deputies of former clerk Keith Brin, whom she defeated in the election.
Weinstein and county attorneys offered multiple reasons for those terminations during six days of trial testimony, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Michelle Higgins, Tiffany Deram and Joshua Smothers campaigned for Brin and were seen alongside him in parades and other events by Weinstein, her husband or her top deputy, court records state.
Including punitive damages, the jury awarded Higgins $1.1 million in compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages and pension; while Deram received $1 million; and Smothers $542,000.
Paul Vickrey, the former workers’ attorney, said Friday’s verdict showed the jurors believed they were fired because they weren’t on Weinstein’s team. He noted that the three plaintiffs had sought punitive damages of $50,000 each, but the jury awarded each $75,000.
“I think the jury was sending a message,” Vickrey said Monday.
Weinstein denied the firings were tied to the trio’s support for Brin. She said Monday via email that she “would never terminate someone’s employment for supporting my opponent,” and said the firings were “in the best interest of my administration.”
Texas
Judge reduces award for flight attendant who sued Southwest
DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge cut a flight attendant’s $5.1 million jury award to about $800,000 but ordered Southwest Airlines to rehire the woman, who had claimed that the airline and her union conspired to fire her for expressing opposition to abortion.
U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr said in a ruling issued Monday that she reduced Charlene Carter’s award to comply with federal limits on punitive damages that companies can be required to pay.
Carter charged that she was fired after sending strongly worded messages to the president of the flight attendants’ union to complain that the official had attended the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017. She called the union leader “despicable.”
The president of Local 556 of the Transport Workers Union did not respond to that and other messages, but Southwest summoned Carter to a meeting and later fired her.
A Dallas jury ruled in Carter’s favor in July, deciding that Southwest should pay Carter $4.15 million and the union should pay $950,000.
The judge this week reduced that award to $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Southwest and $300,000 from the union, $150,000 in back pay and about $60,000 in interest.
In ordering Southwest to reinstate Carter this week, the judge made a reference to a line in Southwest advertising campaigns.
“Bags fly free with Southwest. But free speech didn’t fly at all with Southwest in this case,” Starr wrote.
Nation
Family of American prisoner Paul Whelan backs Griner deal
The family of an American detained in Russia for nearly four years said Thursday that the Biden administration “made the right decision” by agreeing to a prisoner exchange that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner, but relatives are “devastated” that Paul Whelan remains behind.
Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been jailed since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.
“As the family member of a Russian hostage, I can literally only imagine the joy she will have, being reunited with her loved ones, and in time for the holidays,” David Whelan, Paul’s brother, said in a statement. “There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home.”
David Whelan said the family was warned in advance of Griner’s release, a decision he said softened the blow of knowing his brother would stay jailed in Russia. Pressure to include Paul Whelan in any trade for Griner increased after an April trade for Marine veteran Trevor Reed did not include him.
But, David Whelan said, the Biden administration “made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen.”
Paul Whelan, 52, told CNN on Thursday that he is “greatly disappointed that more has not been done” to secure his release.
“I would say that if a message could go to President Biden, that this is a precarious situation that needs to be resolved quickly,” Paul Whelan said in a phone interview. “My bags are packed. I’m ready to go home. I just need an airplane to come and get me.”
As he announced the deal for Griner’s release, Biden pledged that Paul Whelan would not be forgotten.
“Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,” Biden said. “And while we have not yet succeeded at securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
Speaking later at the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia “continues to insist on sham charges of espionage” against Whelan.
“This was not a choice of which American to bring home: The choice was one or none,” Blinken said. “And I wholeheartedly wish that we could have brought Paul home today on the same plane as Brittney.”
Numerous Republican lawmakers criticized the deal for leaving Whelan in Russia, including Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg, who said he was heartbroken for his family.
“They deserve better,” Walberg said in a statement.
The Whelan family, including Paul Whelan’s parents, who are in their 80s, fears for his health and ability to carry on, David Whelan added.
“How do you continue to survive, day after day, when you know that your government has failed twice to free you from a foreign prison?” David Whelan said. “I can’t imagine he retains any hope that a government will negotiate his freedom at this point. It’s clear that the U.S. government has no concessions that the Russian government will take ... And so Paul will remain a prisoner until that changes.”
