Jury Finds Firm liable in sex bias lawsuit

Female San Antonio Aerospace mechanic who was fired in 2004 is awarded $250,000.

San Antonio Express-News
June, 2007

A San Antonio jury has awarded $250,000 to a Kendall County woman in a sex discrimination suit against San Antonio Aerospace L.P. Hue “Lisa” Levasseur, 51, sued her former employer in 2005 after she was fired in March 2004. She complained to the Equal Employment Commission, which not only gave her the green light to sue the company but also found it had discriminated against her.

The aircraft maintenance company plans to appeal the verdict once presiding Judge Peter Sakai signs off on it.

Levasseur was fired, according to court documents, after failing to lubricate an aircraft wing. She claimed her firing was part of a pattern of discrimination, and a jury agreed with her; handing down the verdict last week after a three-week trial.

“An employer can fire you for just about anything,” said Levasseur’s lawyer, Matthew Pearson of Gravely & Pearson LLP in San Antonio. “The employer has all the power and generally controls all the documents and the witnesses.”

San Antonio Aerospace fired Levasseur because she created an unsafe situation by failing to lubricate the wing, according to Cecily Kaffer, the attorney who defended the company in the case.

“San Antonio Aerospace is obligated to act in the interest of air safety and did so in this case, and the company is disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal,” said Kaffer, an attorney with the Alabama law firm Jackson Myrick The Kullman Firm.

Pearson said Sakai also could rule that SAA is responsible for the attorney’s fees in the case. Because that award is still pending, Pearson would not allow Levasseur to be interviewed.

The award covers lost wages and benefits and damages for past emotional pain, suffering and inconvenience. No punitive damages were awarded, nor were damages awarded for future emotional pain, suffering and inconvenience.

Pearson said they did not seek a future award because Levasseur wants to go back to work somewhere as an airplane mechanic.

“She can go to an employer and say, ‘I was wrongfully fired. A jury of my peers found it that way,’” he said.

San Antonio Aerospace is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd. and has an engineering division in Alabama.

SAA does maintenance for customers that include FedEx, UPS, Northwest Airlines, Japan Airlines International, the Republic of Singapore Air Force and the Royal Air Force of Oman.