LITIGATORS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
In a massive gender discrimination class action against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, David Sanford and a team from Sanford Wittels & Heisler called 13 plaintiffs to testify about being passed over for raises and promotions because of gender or pregnancy. Then they used Novartis’s promotion statistics to argue that the discrimination was systematic. In May a federal district court jury in Manhattan awarded $3.4 million in compensatory damages to 12 plaintiffs and $250 million in punitive damages to more than 5,000 current and former women employees, whose compensatory damages will be determined by a special master. Novartis will appeal.
