Attorney Scott Thomas Fortune's Legal Cases

Personal injury

ABC v AC

Jun 22, 2009

OUTCOME: $1 million recovered by Plaintiff

Mr. ABC (name redacted at client's request) was injured in two separate car collisions in January 2006, each of which he was able to walk away from. Several months later, however, he began developing ... a severe neck limitation/deformity that limited the mobility of his head and shoulders. He lost his long-term position as a senior manager with a Fortune 500 Company as a result. We recovered the maximum policy limits of $100,000 from State Farm, Mr. ABC's UM insurer, for each collision. We also recovered policy limits of $50,000 from the other driver in the second collision and $750,000 from the other driver in the first collision.

Employment and labor

RN v. Citigroup, Inc.

Mar 20, 2009

OUTCOME: Total of $4.2 million awarded to Mr. N.

Mr. N (name redacted at client's request) was terminated from his job as Senior Director with Citigroup. His younger manager told him that, once Mr. N was terminated, the manager would have "the young ... guns" reporting directly to him, instead of having Mr. N reporting directly to him. The "young guns" were two men in their 30's who had been reporting to Mr. N, age 59 at the time. The case was submitted to binding arbitration and Mr. N was awarded past and future lost earnings of $3.8 million and his attorneys were awarded approximately $400,000 as attorneys' fees, making Mr. N's total recovery, before deduction of fees and costs, $4.2 million.

Employment and labor

Williams v. Jacksonville

Mar 03, 2006

OUTCOME: Retroactive Promotions and compensation

My clients were four lieutenants on the City of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. They were denied promotions by their Fire Chief (African American) because the Chief stated they did not "meet ... the diversity" of the Fire Department. As a result, my clients were denied promotions to Captain and lost pay. The case was litigated for 7 years and was reviewed by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on three occasions, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied review. On March 3, 2006, a jury ruled in favor of our clients, finding that they had been denied promotions to Captain due to their race (Caucasian). They were ordered retroactively promoted to Captain. The Order of U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan was affirmed by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge and jury also awarded compensatory damages and attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs which, after all appeals, amounted to approximately $650,000.00. That award was also affirmed by the 11th Circuit. Mr. Williams, the lead plaintff, has since been promoted to Chief.

Employment and labor

Vance v. So. Bell

Feb 21, 1995

OUTCOME: $3.5 million jury verdict

I represented Ms. Vance during two federal jury trials in 1987 and 1990, each lasting more than 2 weeks. She became the first plaintiff in an employment discrimination case to receive a reported jury ... verdict in excess of $1 million. Ms. Vance is African American. She was harassed and bullied by co-workers and supervisors at Southern Bell after being transfered to a new location where she worked assembling coin pay phones, hoping to make more money. She was unmarried at time of the harassment and she had been a good employee of Southern Bell for approximately 15 years prior to her transfer. Her harassment included a hangman's noose placed on two occasions at her work station. (Hers was the first reported case involving hangman's nooses.) Her boss admitted making the rope device that was placed at her workplace, but claimed that it wasn't meant to be a hangman's noose. Ms. Vance eventually had a mental and nervous breakdown and lost her job because she was not able to return to work due to her disability. Our first trial was before an all-white jury in Jacksonville, Florida in 1987. The jury awarded Ms. Vance $3.5 million for her lost earnings, mental anguish and punitive damages, under a civil rights statute dating back to the Civil War which allowed such damages. Our trial judge vacated the jury's award and we appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. We were allowed a new trial and we again had an all-white jury. After another two-week trial in 1990, Ms. Vance was awarded in excess of $1 million.

Scott Thomas Fortune's Legal Cases (4)

ABC v AC

RN v. Citigroup, Inc.

Williams v. Jacksonville

Vance v. So. Bell