In February 2009, plaintiff Willie Rose III, 47, a black forklift driver with Plastikon Industries Inc. in Hayward, was terminated from his position after working for the company for nine years. He alleged that he was terminated in retaliation for making complaints about being subjected to discrimination and harassment from his supervisor over a seven-month period. Rose sued Plastikon Industries for wrongful termination and retaliation. Plastikon Industries contended that it made the decision to terminate Rose solely based on an investigation, which revealed that Rose used threatening and abusive language and appeared to be preparing to strike his supervisor. Plaintiff’s counsel claimed that Rose initially represented himself without counsel until three days before trial, when counsel’s firm was asked by the Volunteer Legal Services Program to represent Rose at trial. Prior to that, Rose had taken no discovery, and had arranged for no experts or witnesses. Defense counsel contended that Rose was terminated due to a threatening outburst directed at his supervisor. Counsel relied on testimony from the human resource manager responsible for the investigation and contemporaneous notes from her investigation. Additionally, defense counsel noted that coworker witnesses and the supervisor provided testimony supporting the decision to terminate Rose based only on his aggressive outburst., Rose claimed that he suffered emotional distress as a result of the retaliation and termination of his job. Thus, he claimed that he was entitled to recovery of damages for his pain and suffering related to his emotional distress, as well as recovery of back pay, front pay and punitive damages.