Plaintiff John Cook, a lieutenant with the City of Los Angeles Police Department, claimed that he was overlooked for promotions because of his age. In March 2015, Cook sued his employer, the city of Los Angeles. Cook alleged that the city’s actions constituted age discrimination in violation of the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act. Cook claimed that the police department overlooked his candidacy and qualifications, and hired someone to fill the role who was younger and less qualified for the job. Cook testified that he had been overlooked for a total of 13 promotions during his tenure with the department. Further, he claimed that his employer not only hired candidates who were less experienced than he was, but it promoted candidates who obtained a lower score than he did on a civil service exam conducted by the city’s personnel department. Defense counsel argued that the proper Civil Service procedures were followed in selecting the candidate who ultimately received the promotion/position that Cook desired and had tried to obtain. Counsel contended that the city repeatedly awarded Cook with promotions for his work performance and that Cook had been promoted and/or advanced through the ranks at least seven times over the duration of his employment with the city. In addition, defense counsel contended that Cook received promotions at the ages of 55 and 63, that Cook was in the top three percent of all sworn officers, and that Cook was still eligible for promotions within the department, as Cook was still employed with the city at the time of trial., Cook claimed that he experienced emotional distress and embarrassment as a result of being overlooked of the Captain position. The plaintiff’s economics expert testified that Cook sustained economic damages of approximately $320,000 as a result of the difference in salary he would have earned had he been chosen for the promotion. Thus, Cook sought recovery of $320,000 in economic damages for his past lost earnings and $400,000 in non-economic damages for his pain and suffering as a result of his emotional distress.