We are pleased to report that the verdict in Williams v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership ranks as the top verdict by VerdictSearch for an individual employment action in California in 2016. The case also ranks as the fourth largest verdict in any employment case (class action or individual suit) in the U.S. in 2016.
California’s leading legal newspaper, the Daily Journal, has recognized the outstanding success of attorneys Chris Dolan and Anne Costin in Williams v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership as one of the Top Plaintiffs’ Verdicts in California for 2016.
On November 25, 2016, columnist Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times profiled Patricia Williams who was wrongfully terminated after she blew the whistle on fraud at former employer, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the nation’s largest timeshare company. A San Francisco Superior Court jury the week earlier awarded Williams $20 million for her lost earnings and emotional distress, and punitive damages.
During her tenure at Wyndham, Williams told her superiors about an array of dubious activities with a focus on defrauding elderly customers. Salespersons falsely told customers that Wyndham would buy back their ownership stakes if they no longer wanted them. Credit card accounts were opened for buyers and charged without their knowledge and approval.
A San Francisco jury awarded $20 million to Trish Williams, a former Wyndham timeshare sales representative, who was wrongfully terminated for reporting time share fraud on the elderly (San Francisco Superior Court Case No. CGC-12-526187). The verdict, read late on Thursday, November 17, 2016, followed a one-month trial in which Williams was represented by Chris Dolan of The Dolan Law Firm and Anne Costin of Costin Law Inc.