Corporate, Litigation, and Labor & Employment Lawyers

Honolulu and Hilo, HI

Hawaii Employment Law Cases from January 7, 2018 to January 13, 2018 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

District Court properly dismissed claim company plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties by permitting plan to hold company stock, because plaintiffs failed to plead plausible facts supporting theory the fiduciaries knew stock was inflated, and plaintiffs’ proposed alternative course of action of not purchasing more stock was likely to cause more harm than good.  Laffen v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 577 (9th Cir. Jan. 9, 2018).

District Court properly granted summary judgment against claim employer denied interview because applicant was deaf.  The open position required a minimum of three years practical work experience with Java.  Applicant admitted in deposition he had little experience with Java and would need on the job training in it.  District Court properly excluded applicant’s contradictory declaration he had the required Java experience.  The declaration did not create a genuine dispute whether he had the required three years’ experience anyway.  Wang v. Sony Pictures Entm’t, Inc., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 469 (9th Cir. Jan. 8, 2018).

Note: We analyze cases to learn rules courts will follow or disappoint us if they do not. Rules courts follow allow us to behave and provide explanations they accept. Competent advocates may limit the rules to the facts of the case that discuss them, or expand the rules by showing differences in other cases are irrelevant.