Former Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

A Los Angeles jury increased a damages award twofold for sports writer T.J. Simers on Monday in the retrial of a 2013 lawsuit alleging age and disability discrimination against his former employer the Los Angeles Times. 

The jury in the case awarded Simers $15.45 million in noneconomic damages, up from a $7.1 million verdict awarded to him in a 2015 trial.

“It is incredibly gratifying for Simers and those in similar situations to see the Court vindicate his claims of age and disability discrimination,” said Carney Shegerian of Shegerian and Associates, who represented Simers, in a statement. “Today’s verdict sends a clear message: Age and disability discrimination, among all other forms of discrimination will not and should not be tolerated in the workplace, nor in society as a whole.”

The Los Angeles Times communications department did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Simers started with the LA Times as a reporter in 1990 and in 2000 began writing three sports columns each week for the publication. After suffering a strokelike incident in March 2013, Simers’ editors reduced his output to two weekly columns, citing sloppy work, according to the appellate ruling. Simers considered himself “constructively discharged” after the LA Times demoted him from columnist to reporter following an alleged conflict of interest involving a potential television show centered around the writer and his promotion of the media company on the LA Times website.

Last January, the Second District California Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court’s ruling granting LA Times’ motion for a new trial on all damages, “finding it was not possible to determine what amount of noneconomic damages the jury awarded because of discrimination but not because of the constructive discharge.”

“In short, the evidence showed only plaintiff’s personal subjective reactions to defendant’s use of standard disciplinary procedures: criticisms, a suspension, an investigation, and demotion with a performance plan—all performed with no breach of confidentiality and with no harassment or other mistreatment of plaintiff,” the appellate court wrote in its 2018 opinion. 

Yet the LA Times’ legal maneuvering seemed to backfire with this week’s engorged verdict, in front of Judge William MacLaughlin of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. 

“The Los Angeles Times and its defense counsel wanted a new trial because they did not like the last jury verdict of $7.1 million,” said Nick Rowley of Trial Lawyers for Justice, which retried the damages award. “As my granddaddy said, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ Now with prejudgment interest and attorney’s fees, the Los Angeles Times will owe more than $22 million. I’m really proud of the jury, but most importantly of T.J. Simers, his wife, and family for never giving up on their belief in civil justice and the value of civil rights.”

Lawyers for the defendants including David Axelrad of Horvitz & Levy; Emilio Gonzalez of Davis Wright Tremaine; and Elsa Banuelos of Ballard Rosenberg Golper & Savitt did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.