AP&S was retained by the former Wayland High School Athletic Director, Stephen Cass, to represent him in a lawsuit that he had filed against the Town of Wayland. Through prior counsel, Mr. Cass had filed a Complaint alleging retaliatory action against him by the Defendant as a result of his actions in pointing out policies, rules, and regulations violations. Mr. Cass filed a claim under the Massachusetts Whistleblower Protection Act.
The case was tried in the Massachusetts Federal District Court in Boston before Chief Judge Patti Saris. The case took eight trial days. At the end of the trial, the jury determined that Mr. Cass had been retaliated against in violation of the Massachusetts Whistleblower Protection Act. The jury awarded damages to him based on lost wages and emotional distress.
Assessing the strengths of Mr. Cass’s claims was a team effort. Various attorneys at AP&S, with experience in employment and labor law, were able to provide helpful background in analyzing the relevant circumstance. Because the firm was not the original counsel in the case, the firm did not engage in the underlying discovery. Therefore, lawyers had to become quickly familiar with tens of thousands of documents and assess the significance of the most important of those documents to the allegations that were being asserted.
