Simers awarded $7.1 mil

[wopphil]

A downtown L.a. jury strikes again.

[DowningRules]

Judas H. Priest.  Free money every where.

 

How old was he when he got laid off from the Times, for f's sake? It wasn't like he was 40.  He didn't have that many years left to work at the rate he was working!

 

And didn't he get a job with the Register not long after? A job he quit?!?

 

What am I missing? Was he a whistleblower? Was there a retaliation claim? 

[nando714]

65 years old

[wopphil]

Downing, that's the thing. He didn't get laid off. He quit after his editors threatened him with a demotion for not disclosing a conflict of interest.

And yet the jury gave him $5,000,000 in emotional distress damages alone. Let that sink in - $5,000,000 for emotional distress to a guy who QUIT HIS OWN JOB.

[Stradling]

You lawyers must be pumped.

[ten ocho recon scout]

We just paid out 100K...to someone who ran into one of our PARKED vehicles on a bike. ...

[halomatt]

Hmm...integrity from Simers?  That's like teets on a bull!

[Ohtaniland]

If he was black he would've got 20M.

Racist

[tomsred]

Anyone know what the conflict of interest related to?

[ettin]

The crazy part is that the LA Times was paying him $234,000 to write a column three times a week!!!! WTF! And guess what? When he went over to the Orange County Register they paid him $190,000 for the same damn thing!!!!

I am in the wrong ****ing business! (sorry for the bad word but I'm stunned)

Who in their right mind would pay such a crap columnist that much money? No wonder print is dying.

Also I'll be speaking to Chuck about payments for my Primer series now!

Edited November 5, 2015 by ettin

[ettin]

Here you go: http://deadspin.com/t-j-simers-wins-7-1-million-judgement-against-the-los-1740676493

[wopphil]

You lawyers must be pumped.

No. I hate seeing this crap. It puts companies out of business and costs their employees wage increases, causes layoffs, etc. The only people who make out are the plaintiffs' attorneys and the plaintiffs.

[Dave Saltzer]

Chuck,

 

I need to talk to you about my salary . . . 

[ten ocho recon scout]

Seriously floored that he or anyone else could make that much money writing opinion pieces...

[laagamer]

haha

[tomsred]

Chuck,

 

I need to talk to you about my salary . . . 

 

 

Fire him Chuck, I saw him sitting next to Josh Hamilton once, that's a conflict of interest.

[tomsred]

Seriously floored that he or anyone else could make that much money writing opinion pieces...

 

Opinion pieces are too nice of a description for what Simers writes.  Hatchet jobs are closer.

[fan_since79]

Hamilton made thousands every time he swung and missed a low breaking ball. Mindless.

 

At least Simers had to think up a story with sentences and everything, and then put it together on paper.

Edited November 5, 2015 by fan_since79

[Guest]

Don't hate the player, hate the game. 

[Tank]

Downing, that's the thing. He didn't get laid off. He quit after his editors threatened him with a demotion for not disclosing a conflict of interest.

And yet the jury gave him $5,000,000 in emotional distress damages alone. Let that sink in - $5,000,000 for emotional distress to a guy who QUIT HIS OWN JOB.

 

emotional distress . . . ha ha . . . think of all the people simers pissed off during his years of writing. he should share this money with them.

[ettin]

The more I think about this though the more I realize how incredibly stupid the L.A. Times was to employ this POS an pay him $234,000 a year. What did they think would happen when he sued for damages that he wouldn't ask for 10 years of yearly pay as compensation?

 

L.A. Times is just as stupid as Slimers is. Wow just still can't believe he was pulling down that much money for writing three shitty columns a week.

[ABC]

When your income hits higher levels compared to others in your field you get paid more for who you are than what you do.

[Stradling]

It pays to be polarizing and irritating. I'm guessing a ton of people read what he writes just so they can remind themselves why they hate the guy. I only read the articles that found their way to this site. I don't consider guys like him or Plaske journalists, they are basically "look at me" writers that have never made me think differently on a subject.

[AngelsLongBall]

Can this be appealed?

[tomsred]

I don't know if it can be appealed, but financial hits like this is something the LA Times or any newspaper can ill afford to take these days.  So many newspapers are disappearing.  As the population ages the customers for paper news continues to decline, there are so many other more efficient ways of getting news or reading opinions.