Justin Shegerian wins $103M in age bias case in first time as first chair

A Shegerian & Associates attorney in Los Angeles trying his first trial as a first chair, and fourth trial overall, won a $103 million verdict Friday against Liberty Mutual Insurance on behalf of an employee who claimed she was fired for complaining about ageist hiring practices.

"It was surreal, but I'm just so grateful to the jury, more than anything, really recognizing and seeing through all of Liberty Mutual's total lies and deceit," first chair attorney Justin W. Shegerian, who graduated from law school last year, said in a phone call on Friday.

Shegerian, the son of firm founder Carney R. Shegerian, led the plaintiff side to a verdict of $20 million in noneconomic damages and $83 million in punitive damages.

He credited his co-counsel, Mahru Madjidi, as being essential to the win.

"We were both the lead on this case, and without her, it would not have happened," Shegerian said.

Plaintiff Joy Slagel was also represented by Shegerian attorneys Aaron G. Gbewonyo and Deepika Chandrashekar of Los Angeles.

Liberty Mutual was represented by Thomas G. Mackey and Yvonne A. Fossati of Jackson Lewis PC in Los Angeles, as well as Dorothy L. Black of Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete LLP in San Diego. They did not respond to phoned or emailed requests for comment by press time on Friday.

Slagel, who began working at Liberty Mutual in 1985, alleged that she was investigated and fired from her position in retaliation for complaining about ageist hiring practices she noticed starting in 2012, when a new regional claims manager signed on. Slagel v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company et al., BC648246 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 26, 2017).

"2012 is really when things start to change," Shegerian said. "Older employees over the age of 40 are noticeably disproportionately affected by this. Liberty Mutual starts recruiting new hires exclusively only from college campuses, making their hiring pool only 22-year-olds for the most part. They were using those young college hires to replace the older, long-term employees like Joy."

While more senior employees were paid some $85,000 to $95,000 a year, the younger employees made just $50,000 to $55,000, creating a financial benefit for Liberty Mutual, Shegerian said.

Even though prior performance reviews indicated that Slagel was a model employee, she alleged her complaints led the company to investigate her on claims that she had misled a client from the Walt Disney Company about a social media report - an allegation the defense echoed in briefs and at trial.

The investigation resulted in Slagel's termination in 2016.

"The evidence at trial will show that Liberty Mutual ended plaintiff's employment for legitimate business reasons: plaintiff's misconduct," the defense claimed in a 2024 trial brief. "Indeed, it is undisputed that Liberty Mutual's client, The Walt Disney Company, complained about plaintiff's misrepresentations and lack of integrity."

At trial, Shegerian said his team disproved this narrative using internal documents and witness testimony.

"Liberty Mutual claimed that Joy was being dishonest to Disney, their client. Well, we called that person in from Disney, and we were able to show that Joy was never dishonest with Disney. Disney said it out of their own mouth, essentially," he said.

To prove age discrimination, harassment and retaliation, Shegerian said his team used testimony from long-term Liberty Mutual employees who had been fired after 2012.

"There are many long-term employees, people who had been at Liberty 10, 20, 25 years, that were let go starting after 2012," he said. "We had four witnesses total who came in and testified to exactly that, that younger employees were replacing the older ones."

The team also presented Liberty Mutual human resources documents outlining an explicit strategy to hire younger employees, Shegerian said.

"A big part of it was exposing this huge cover up from Liberty Mutual that really went to some of the most senior employees at Liberty Mutual. A vice president was involved, a human resources manager who oversees human resources representatives in many, many different states in this country. This went to some of the highest levels at Liberty Mutual," he said.