San Onofre
A Vista Superior Court judge has overturned a jury’s decision to award more than $1 million to a former night shift superintendent at the San Onofre nuclear power plant for wrongful firing.
Judge Terry O’Rourke threw out the 11-1 jury verdict in favor of Charles N. Slayton, 44, who was fired by Bechtel Construction Co. in August, 1984.
But Carlsbad attorney Lee Landrum, who is representing Slayton, on Monday filed an appeal of the judge’s July 2 ruling.
“What the judge did was completely uncalled for,” Landrum said.
Slayton, now a resident of Big Bear, was an Oceanside resident when he was fired by Bechtel on grounds that he told a subordinate to take credit for a weld that was made by another worker.
The subordinate complained to Bechtel executives that Slayton had ordered him to falsify records, and Bechtel fired Slayton from his $55,000-a-year job. Slayton had worked for the company for 14 years.
Slayton contended in his civil lawsuit that he did not order the subordinate to falsify records. After a seven-week trial, a Vista Superior Court jury agreed in early April that Slayton was unjustly fired.
A Bechtel spokesman could not be reached for comment.
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