Terminated Police Chief, Timothy Blakeley, brought wrongful termination action against the Town of Taylortown.
The jury was asked to answer four issues: (1) Was the plaintiff’s refusal to participate in conduct which violated public policy a substantial factor in the defendant’s decision to terminate him?; (2) Would defendant have terminated plaintiff if he had not refused to participate in that conduct?; (3) What amount of damages is plaintiff entitled to recover?; and (4) By what amount should the plaintiff’s actual damages be reduced? The jury returned a verdict and answered the issues as: yes, no, $291,000, and $191,000, respectively.
The appeals court granted the town’s motion to amend the verdict based on the jury’s failure to properly offset the amount of damages by the amount of money plaintiff earned in other jobs and in unemployment benefits, remanding for the trial court to reduce the judgment by $5,886.97.