In May 2009, plaintiff Stephanie Kelley, a marketing director for Merle Norman Cosmetics in Los Angeles, received a complaint from a subordinate employee, Sarah Tillman, who claimed that Helen Nethercutt, Vice Chairman of the Board for Merle Norman, made inappropriate comments toward her. Specifically, Tillman claimed that Ms. Nethercutt told her to dress revealingly and expose her breasts more. Tillman also claimed that Jack Nethercutt, the President and Chairman of the Board for Merle Norman, and Ms. Nethercutt’s husband, echoed those remarks. Kelley claimed that the Nethercutts made the same comments about Tillman to her, saying that she needed to be “more comfortable with her body” and dress differently. As a result, Kelley reported the remarks to human resources in June 2009. In early 2010, Merle Norman hired a new Chief Operating Officer, Rosanna McCollough, and by March 2010, McCollough had written Kelley up three times. On April 6, 2010, Kelley wrote an e-mail to McCollough, on which she copied the Department of Fair Employment and Housing Council and the Employment Development Department, claiming that there was a problem at the company regarding sexual harassment that needed to be investigated. On April 23, 2010, Kelley received a letter from attorney Robert Baker, writing on behalf of the Nethercutts and Merle Norman, demanding that she retract a statement made in the April 6 e-mail or that the company would pursue legal remedies against her. Kelley claimed the ordeal caused her to go on medical leave in May 2010. After attempts to negotiate her employment with the Nethercutts and Merle Norman failed, Kelley was terminated from employment on Nov. 18, 2010. Kelley sued Merle Norman Cosmetics, Jack Nethercutt and Helen Nethercutt. Kelley alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as retaliation and wrongful termination, in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Kelley contended that after filing a complaint with Human Resources about the Nethercutts’ remarks to Tillman, the Nethercutts felt threatened about a potential harassment lawsuit and wrote memos that described Kelley and Tillman (who left the company in October 2009) as liars who were trying to blackmail the company. Kelley alleged that shortly thereafter, she began receiving complaints about product sales being low and about her poor performance as a marketing director. She also contended that the Nethercutts’ attitude and actions toward her became very hostile, and that McCollough had started to harass her, as well as had written her up three times. Kelley further contended that when nothing was done in response to the complaint she filed with Human Resources, the matter ultimately led to her going on medical leave, during which the defendants hired a private investigator to track her before ultimately terminating her on Nov. 18, 2010. The defendants denied all of Kelley’s claims about sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as denied retaliating against her. Instead, they claimed failed negotiations and Kelley’s unreasonable demands involving her return to work gave them no choice but to ultimately terminate her employment. In addition, the defendants claimed that Kelley had taken 14,000 pages of documents from Merle Norman and withheld them during discovery. In response, Kelley claimed that her “unreasonable demands,” which were stated in two e-mails, consisted of her request for a job description in writing, a confirmation of her title and pay upon her return, a statement of her goals and objectives, and compliance with the Fair Employment and Housing Act’s provisions prohibiting retaliation., Kelley, who was originally hired by Merle Norman in September 2007, sought recovery of damages in excess of $300,000 for her past lost earnings and an unspecified amount for her future lost earnings going forward through retirement. However, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to decide how long it thought it would take for Kelley to find comparable employment and award her based on its findings. Kelley also claimed emotional distress from the ordeal and sought recovery of damages for her future medical costs for therapy to treat her condition, as well as sought recovery of an unspecified amount in general damages.