May 9, 2022 – A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected the sexual harassment and retaliation claims of a former employee of United Resources Information (“URI”) against the company and his former URI supervisor. Ted Lin was an Associate Creative Director for URI, a Los Angeles-based advertising agency. Lin alleged that his supervisor repeatedly touched him against his wishes, asked questions about he and his wife’s activities, and tried to discuss masturbation with him on one occasion. Lin claimed that when he complained about his supervisor’s behavior to URI’s President, its Human Resources Manager and others, rather than investigate his allegations, URI and the supervisor ultimately took him off of high-profile projects in retaliation for his claims leading to his forced resignation. He sought nearly $2.5 million in damages, not including punitive damages.
For its part, URI defended that no unwelcome touching or inappropriate conversations had occurred, as evidenced by Lin’s own contemporaneous Facebook chat messages with a close co-worker friend. Those messages revealed that Lin’s true grievances with his supervisor were over her managerial style and creative direction rather than any inappropriate sexual behavior to which there was not a single reference during that six-month period.
The jury’s verdict followed a day of deliberations. The trial included expert witness testimony produced by Plaintiff that the reason why he had failed to disclose some of the most salacious details of his supervisor’s purported conduct prior to trial was because of his repressed memory arising from the alleged abuse. “We couldn’t be happier for URI and Ms. Park who have had their reputations dragged through the mud for four years by these outrageously false claims,” said lead trial counsel David Ammons who tried the case with Senior Counsel Kevin Kelly. “I remain hopeful that those who are truly victims of workplace sexual harassment will be heard in the future,” said Ammons.