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David I. Brody quoted in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly on Menninger v. PPD Development, L.P.

David I. Brody, partner in the firm’s Employment Department, was quoted in the May 15^th issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. The article, “Jury awards $24M to employee who made ‘difficult decision,’” discusses a company executive being awarded over $24 million for suffering discrimination and retaliation after making the difficult decision to disclose her mental health disability to her employer.

Read the full article from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (subscriber content).

From the article:

For Boston employee-side attorney David I. Brody, the Menninger verdict indicates the value of engaging legal counsel as soon as possible. By doing so, the plaintiff developed a powerful record to present to the jury, he said.

For example, he said, the plaintiff did not merely express her discomfort at performing certain tasks but provided support for her claim, requested specific accommodations, and then continued to engage in the dialogue constructively.

Absent counsel, “that is not easy for the average person to do, even a senior executive,” Brody said.

Both Bogin-Farber and Brody said a theory that had been making the rounds in employment circles is that juries were less inclined to give big awards after the COVID-19 pandemic, given that job losses had become far more routine.

But Menninger now stands as another example that that is not happening.

Brody said he has heard of about a half-dozen post-COVID verdicts of more than $1 million.