In April 2014, plaintiff Patricia Tillotson, 58, a pro account sales associate at a Home Depot store in Torrance, was terminated from her employment. Tillotson claimed that she was fired because of her age and disabilities, and in retaliation for whistleblowing. Tillotson sued The Home Depot, Home Depot USA Inc. and Stephen Conley. Tillotson alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted age discrimination, disability discrimination and whistleblower retaliation, resulting in her wrongful termination. The matter only continued against Home Depot USA. Tillotson claimed that Home Depot USA fired her in retaliation for reporting unauthorized discounts. She also claimed that Home Depot USA fired her because of her age and because of her disabilities relating to breast cancer and varicose veins. In addition, she claimed she had requested reasonable accommodations, such as a sedentary position and help lifting, for her alleged disabilities, but that Home Depot USA did not provide them. Home Depot USA claimed that that it provided every accommodation that Tillotson requested during her employment. It also claimed that it terminated Tillotson and five other employees after an internal investigation revealed that they had collectively given more than $400,000 in unauthorized discounts and free services to a customer, and had accepted gifts from the customer in violation of company policy., Tillotson alleged that she was unemployed for approximately one year before she started to work at a job that paid less than what she earned at Home Depot. Tillotson sought recovery of past lost wages, future lost wages, and non-economic damages for her past and future emotional distress. Specifically, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award Tillotson $3,495,472, including $75,472 in past lost wages, $120,000 in future lost wages, $1 million in damages for her past emotional distress, and $2.3 million in damages for her future emotional distress.