In August 2011, plaintiff Carlos Ortiz, 55, a Sales Manager for Latin America who worked at the Goleta facility of Reson Inc., a Denmark-based producer of multibeam sonar systems and acoustic sensors, was terminated without warning or explanation. Ortiz sued Reson Inc., Reson A/S, Teledyne-Reson A/S, and Teledyne Reson Inc. Ortiz alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted discrimination based on national origin and age, and constituted a failure to accommodate his disability. (During the course of litigation, Teledyne, a California corporation, acquired Reson and all of its related entities.) Ortiz contended that he was employed for 19.5 years and was one of the first eight employees with the company. He also contended that as one of the first eight employees of the company, he had an impressive track record and was regularly acknowledged for his outstanding performance. However, he claimed that there was a culture of discrimination at Reson, in which lower performing Danish employees were favored over higher performing non-Danish employees. Ortiz further claimed that coworkers and supervisors made comments about him being too old to be a sales person and that he should retire. Ortiz claimed that he suffered disabilities while working at Reson, including hernias, back , and, later, a burst retina that caused permanent vision loss in his left eye. He claimed he requested to work from home on occasion, but was denied the request even though other sales persons without disabilities were permitted to work from home. He also claimed he was denied requests to have heavy marketing materials shipped ahead of him when traveling for sales presentations. Prior to his termination in August 2011, Ortiz had secured a $75 million commitment from PEMEX, a Mexican oil and gas company, for the purchase of Reson sonar equipment. Ortiz claimed that Reson’s Danish Chief Executive Officer, Kim Lehmann, personally and publicly congratulated him, and that he was given a standing ovation by the worldwide sales team at a meeting for the deal. However, Ortiz claimed that after requesting that he be paid commission on the PEMEX deal — in accordance with commissions paid to other Reson sales managers — he was removed from the PEMEX project prior to it being finalized. He also claimed that soon thereafter, the company terminated him. Ortiz presented testimony from his direct supervisor and former Vice President of Sales, Alan Kenny, who testified that Ortiz did not deserve to be fired. Defense counsel argued that Ortiz and other employees were terminated based on poor performance as part of a company-wide effort to improve sales. Counsel also disputed Ortiz’s claim regarding the $75 million proposed sale, and contended that Reson abandoned the deal before signing any type of contract. Counsel also denied that Reson failed to accommodate Ortiz’s alleged disability, arguing that Reson did not know about the alleged requests and would have granted them if the company was aware of them. Reson’s CEO, Lehmann, admitted under oath that he destroyed his entire file on PEMEX during the course of the litigation, after numerous discovery requests for the information had been made. The court specifically found that this was an intentional destruction of evidence., Ortiz sought recovery of past and future lost earnings in excess of $3.8 million. He also sought recovery of $60,000 in other past and future economic losses, $500,000 in damages for his past and future pain and suffering, and an unspecified amount in punitive damages. Defense counsel argued that Ortiz was terminated for legitimate business reasons and was owed zero damages.