Often, our clients wonder what to expect. While every situation is unique, we offer the following examples to illustrate our approach and our results.*

1. Countering Discrimination
Our client was a long-time, highly placed Asian-American executive of a major international corporation. Yet, his manager discriminated against him due to his national origin—and when he complained, he was terminated. He hired Melville Johnson, P.C. to sue his former employer, basing the suit on the company's knowledge of this discrimination. Our effective negotiating and mediation skills allowed the client to settle his case with out the expense or emotional drain of a lengthy lawsuit. The case resulted in a near-six-figure settlement.

2. Terminated on Leave
Our client, an established news cameraman, suffered an on-the job injury, which prevented him from working. He requested leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), submitting supporting documents from his doctor. Yet, while on leave, he was fired for failure to report to work. He hired Melville Johnson, P.C. After a lengthy law suit and hard-fought discovery process resulting in several depositions and many discovery motions, the parties elected to engage in mediation. The result: a near-six figure recovery for the client, plus the maximum allowable worker's compensation benefits.

3. When Disability Payments Stop
After working for an major international company for over 35 years, our client was forced to go out on long-term disability. Indeed, according to his doctor's analysis, our client was in pain or discomfort 18 hours a day. This pain did not improve, but after 6 years, the insurance company determined that our client was able to return to work and stopped making his disability payments. Our client first exhausted his administrative appeals, then hired us to file a lawsuit in federal court. Based on a well-drafted complaint and several settlement conferences, our client received a near-six figure lump-sum payment.

4. Promotion Granted
Our client, an employee of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, was eligible for a promotion. Though clearly the most qualified employee, he was denied; it seemed his race was an issue. The Agency refused to settle case. He hired Melville Johnson to represent him before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; at trial, we were able to prove that the selecting official did, in fact, discriminate against our client based on his race. Our client won the promotion, back pay, and attorney's fees.

5. Bankruptcy is No Excuse
When an elderly lady died in a nursing home, the family felt clearly that it was due to negligence. This is often called an "employment tort," meaning that the employees were at fault for not doing their jobs properly. The family hired Melville Johnson to sue on behalf of the estate. Soon thereafter, the nursing home chain filed for bankruptcy—but we did not let that stop us. We were able to force the case into mediation, where, through clever framing of the issues and good use of evidence, we obtained a settlement of $125,000.

6. Pension Owed, Pension Due
For over 10 years, our client, a faithful Union member, had been denied his rightful pension benefits. He retained Melville Johnson to fight on his behalf; we quickly got his pension reinstated. Importantly, we also collected his entire back pension, with interest, an amount totaling approximately $200,000.

7. Appealing Harassment
A female employee who had been sexually harassed for years, finally had enough and hired us to sue her employer. Although the jury trial went against us, we took the case to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, who immediately threw out the verdict and sent the case back to the lower court for retrial. Rather than face another jury, the defendant settled with our client for a substantial amount of money.

8. Long Distance Efficacy
Our client was a British citizen involved in a contract dispute with a company in Georgia. He located Melville Johnson on the internet, and contracted with us long distance. Not only was he not forced to return to the United States, we never met him in person. Yet, we were able to secure a very favorable judgment against the company on his behalf.

9. Wrongful Death
The family of a Japanese woman who was troubled by psychological problems, called the police to transport her to a mental health facility. Instead, they took her to jail and placed her in solitary confinement. The woman subsequently committed suicide. Her estate retained Melville Johnson to represent them in their ensuing wrongful death suit; the police settled the case for $400,000, the highest jail-suicide settlement ever in the southeast or southwest.

10. No Racket
Our client was a Russian national with a cleaning crew of predominantly illegal aliens; she was involved in a major employment dispute with the world's largest retailer over the crew. We advised her of her rights, and prevented her from becoming part of a federal racketeering indictment.

11. Delivering on Contract
An African computer software company had a contract to provide software services to their homeland Postal Service. Under a separate contract, a U.S. hardware distributor was to supply necessary hardware to the post office; as part of this second contract, they too were to hire the African software company to service the post office. When the U.S. distributor failed to meet its obligations to deliver the mainframe computer, the African company was unable to fulfill their contract with the postal service. The African software company hired Melville Johnson to sue the U.S. hardware distributor for non-performance on their contract and interfering with the postal contract. When we settled the case, the court made the U.S. distributor fulfill its contract—and our client received an additional $1,000,000 in damages.

12. Reversing the Outcome
Our client was an independent contractor being sued by his former employer. He had lost his case at a jury trial. We appealed the decision—and the case was reversed. In order to avoid a second trial, the plaintiff settled the case with our client for a fraction of what she had been awarded by the jury.

13. On the Side of the Law
We have represented high ranking agents of the FBI, CIA, Secret Service and Department of Justice among the many other executive agencies, in federal employment administrative proceedings and have secured many favorable judgments and settlements.

14. Working Within the Federal System
A long-time federal employee at the GS-15 level was harassed due to a mental disability; he was then denied reasonable accommodation. He retained Melville Johnson, and together we fought through the internal adjudication process, until we obtained a settlement. Our client was allowed to transfer to Florida at the same pay level; had his relocation fees paid by the Agency; had his attorney's fees paid; and received $75,000 in damages.

15. Retaining Benefits
Melville Johnson represented an entire class of disabled employees against a major consulting company and its benefits plan. Our case: alleged interference with benefits and failure to pay benefits. The company was terminating all disabled employees on long-term disability, cutting off their rights to medical benefits and eliminating other accrued benefits. After filing the case, we entered into significant settlement negotiations. The result: the employees were not terminated—and were able to keep all of their employee benefits, including mental, dental and life insurance.

16. Global Employment
The Carter Center, founded in 1982 by former President Jimmy Carter, works to advance human rights and democracy and to alleviate suffering in countries around the world. To achieve these goals, they have both short- and long-term employees in nearly 70 countries across six continents. Melville Johnson advises the Center on the international employment, insurance and benefits issues affecting those people.

 * Results may vary because each case must be decided on its own unique facts and the law applicable to that given case. You should not infer the likelihood of success in a given case based on past cases handled by this firm.

For a free consultation with a Case Intake Manager at Melville Johnson, P.C., call 877-524-9111 toll free, or contact us online.