Managing Principal Harry Stern and Associate Sarah Madan Win Record $7.2 Million Verdict Against the University of California for Fired UCSC Police Lieutenant
To read official news coverage about this successful trial, please click here.
On February 27th, 2024, an Alameda County jury delivered a unanimous verdict for former University of California Santa Cruz PD Lt. Glenn Harper. The jurors, who deliberated for roughly three hours, awarded damages of $7.2 million, which is believed to be a record judgment against the university for an individual plaintiff in a racial discrimination case.
Glenn Harper served with the San Jose Police Department for twenty-five years, retiring as a lieutenant. He was happily enjoying civilian life when he was recruited by Chief Nader Oweis to help professionalize the UCSCPD. However, Harper’s arrival at the department garnered resentment from certain quarters. He was the only African American on the small force and came in as the second-in-command. When Lt. Harper attempted to discipline a supervisor who had botched an overnight assault with a firearm investigation, the sergeant retaliated against him by filing a number of spurious complaints. Despite the support of Chief Oweis and a favorable Skelly hearing decision, a mid-level university administrator fired Glenn.
RLS managing principal Harry Stern teamed with RLS personal injury litigation group member Sarah Madan and veteran civil rights attorney John Scott to try the case. The jury heard evidence over the course of a month in Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski’s courtroom. They concluded that the UC had adopted and ratified the racial bias of the disgruntled sergeant when they terminated Harper.
“This was the first plaintiff’s employment case I have ever tried. I represented Glenn during the administrative investigation and had never seen a weaker termination. I initially referred Glenn to John Scott to sue the UC, but when the case headed for trial John brought me back in. It was an absolute pleasure trying the case with John and Sarah. John has decades of tremendous successes representing plaintiffs in civil rights actions. Sarah Madan was a huge asset to the team. She did all of our legal research and writing on the fly and was a keen observer of what was going on with witnesses and the jury.”
Harry and Sarah expressed their appreciation to the jury for their patience and diligence.
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