O.C. Jury Awards $1.9 Million to Fired Autobytel Employee

A former Autobytel.com employee who claimed he was transferred out of state and then fired after reporting alleged business irregularities has been awarded $1.9 million in damages against the Irvine online car-selling service.

An Orange County Superior Court jury Wednesday awarded former Autobytel regional sales director Thomas Heshion $400,000 in actual damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages after deliberating less than a day.

Heshion, 39, sued Autobytel in 1998, alleging he had been fired after repeatedly voicing concern over the company’s practice of “double selling” exclusive territories to car dealers.

Online car-selling services such as Autobytel charge dealers for leads on buyers, promising to steer all potential shoppers in certain ZIP Codes to the dealer who has purchased the rights to that area.

In his complaint, Heshion said he was ordered to sell the same rights to more than one dealer, meaning the agreements were not exclusive.

He last raised the issue with then-chief executive Peter Ellis in March 1997, when the company was making plans to go public, according to the lawsuit. Autobytel went public two years later.

Heshion was transferred to a new post in Houston in what was billed as a promotion, but was fired three months later, the suit said.

The company plans to appeal, Autobytel spokeswoman Cassandra Cavanah said, adding: “We believe the verdict is in error.” She would not comment on allegations in the lawsuit. Ellis, who is no longer chief executive but remains a major shareholder, could not be reached for comment.

Heshion Finally Finds a Job

Heshion, who was earning $90,000 a year plus commissions when he was fired, struggled for two years to find permanent employment, working briefly in Houston before returning to Southern California, said his attorney, Ron Hodges.

Late last year, he accepted a job in Kansas City, Mo., at Recreational Technologies, where he is now chief executive. The company provides video compression technologies.

“We’re very pleased that the jury listened to the evidence,” Hodges said. Heshion could not be reached for comment.

Jurors also said Autobytel wrongly withheld Heshion’s final wages and commissions--roughly $8,700--and added his relocation expenses for the Houston move to their overall award.

During the weeklong trial, acting Autobytel CEO Mark Lorimer said Heshion was terminated for insubordination and failing to follow certain company policies, Hodges said.

But the jury found that Autobytel violated a state labor law that prohibits employers from relocating workers knowing they will be fired.

During the trial, two other managers also testified that double-selling was widely practiced at the company, and that they knew of no reason why Heshion should have been fired, said co-counsel Michael Kelly.

“Our client complained about something that wasn’t right and he was promptly swept out of the state and then fired,” he said. “That a jury unanimously agreed he was wrongfully terminated is vindication for him.”