In April 2009, plaintiffs Judy Alexander, Lisa Harris and Johann Hellmannsberger, all nurses and mental health workers on the Behavioral Health Unit of Community Hospital of Long Beach, were terminated from their respective positions. Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger claimed that their supervisor, the Director of the Behavioral Health Unit, who was jointly employed by both Memorial Psychiatric Health Services Inc. and Community Hospital of Long Beach through a contract, subjected them to sexual orientation and gender discrimination and that when they complained to human resources, they were retaliated against. Within a month of Alexander complaining to human resources, she, Harris and Hellmannsberger were accused of placing a patient in physical restraints and committing patient abuse. As a result, they were fired in April 2009. Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger were eventually arrested and went through a criminal trial based on the patient-abuse allegations, but they were all acquitted. Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger sued Community Hospital of Long Beach, Memorial Psychiatric Health Services Inc., and Memorial Counseling Associates Medical Group Inc., which was doing business as MCA. Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted workplace harassment, gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and defamation. Defense counsel appealed the court’s denial of their petition to compel arbitration and had the case stayed during the criminal trial. During the civil trial, Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger claimed that from June 2008 to April 2009, the director flaunted his homosexuality, gave preferential treatment to homosexual males, and showed a disdain for women. Alexander alleged that when she went to human resources to complain about the director in March 2009, she was told that the last person who complained about the director was terminated. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that within a month of Alexander’s complaint to human resources, Alexander was terminated and all three plaintiffs were falsely accused of committing patient abuse. Counsel further contended that all three plaintiffs were ultimately fired in April 2009. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel argued that in addition to being wrongfully terminated, the plaintiffs were defamed through the false allegations that they had committed patient abuse. Plaintiffs’ counsel noted Harris passed away in September 2014, during the trial, and that Harris’ son, Maurice Stamper, was subsequently substituted into the case. Counsel also noted that although Judge Michael Johnson allowed information about the plaintiffs’ arrest and criminal prosecution into evidence, he did not all information about the subsequent acquittal. Counsel also noted that Johnson allowed defense counsel to bring restraints into court and set up a table to conduct a demonstration of how a patient is restrained, even though the plaintiffs claimed that restraints were not used. Defense counsel contended Alexander, Harris and Hellmannsberger unlawfully put a patient in restraints, and counsel brought in two witnesses who testified to being in the room and assisting with putting the patient in restraints. Thus, counsel argued that the plaintiffs were untruthful when they said restraints were not used and that after the hospital had investigated reports that the plaintiffs and other employees had placed an 18-year-old psychiatric patient in physical restraints without a doctor’s order, which is a violation of state and federal law, the hospital appropriately terminated the plaintiffs’ employment in April 2009. Defense counsel contended that two employees reported the incident to the hospital, based on their belief that proper protocols had not been followed, and that the hospital subsequently suspended the plaintiffs pending an investigation of the incident. Counsel contended that, while suspended, Hellmannsberger repeatedly contacted one of the employees who reported the incident and offered her financial compensation to change her story. The employee allegedly rejected Hellmannsberger’s bribery attempt, and reported it to hospital administrators. Defense counsel also contended that hospital administrators were played telephone messages that Hellmannsberger left on the employee’s cell phone, in which one of the messages from Hellmannsberger stated, “Please don’t tell the hospital we talked.” Defense counsel contended that the hospital made a copy of the telephone messages in order to preserve them as evidence, and the messages were played to the jury during trial. Defense counsel further contended that during the hospital’s investigation, additional misconduct by Alexander was discovered involving timecard fraud. Thus, at the conclusion of its investigation, the hospital terminated the plaintiffs’ employment and reported them to the California Board of Nursing, as required by California law. Defense counsel further contended that after the incident was reported to the California Board of Nursing, the board, in turn, reported the incident to the California Department of Justice, which conducted an independent investigation and determined that sufficient evidence and probable cause existed, warranting the plaintiffs’ criminal prosecution for patient abuse. In addition, the hospital’s director of nursing testified that the hospital was required by law to report the plaintiffs to the board and that the hospital played no role, and had no influence over, law enforcement’s decision to criminally prosecute the plaintiffs. During trial, the hospital’s human resources director testified that none of the plaintiffs ever complained about harassment or discrimination at any time during their employment. Defense counsel also presented testimony from four of Alexander’s former coworkers, who claimed that Alexander was hostile and abusive to patients, and regularly threatened them with restraints. Further, defense counsel presented evidence that Hellmannsberger was disciplined by her subsequent employers for placing a patient in restraints without a doctor’s order and for multiple incidents in which Hellmannsberger was abusive toward patients. In addition, defense counsel noted that the civil trial was stayed during the plaintiffs’ criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice and that the civil court ruled in accordance with California law that the plaintiffs’ acquittals were inadmissible. However, defense counsel noted that the civil court ruled that evidence of the plaintiffs’ arrests and criminal prosecution was inadmissible unless the plaintiffs argued that the defendants defamed them by falsely telling employees that they were arrested. The court further ruled that if the plaintiffs introduced such evidence, defense counsel was entitled to introduce evidence of the arrests in order to refute the plaintiffs’ defamation allegations by establishing that the alleged statements were not defamatory because they were true, since the plaintiffs were, in fact, arrested., Alexander had 23 years of nursing experience, Harris had 15 years of experience as a behavioral health worker, and Hellmannsberger had two years of nursing experience. The plaintiffs claimed that they suffered emotional distress as a result of their alleged treatment at the hospital, alleged false allegations against them, and subsequent termination. However, no expert testimony was presented. Due to her death, Harris was only entitled to recovery for her alleged loss of earnings and punitive damages. Alexander and Hellmannsberger had found other jobs, and were making the same or more by the time of trial. Defense counsel contended that within 30 days of their termination from the hospital, each plaintiff was re-employed in a job where they earned the same or more, which cut off all loss of earnings claims. Furthermore, counsel contended that the hospital ceased operations and sold its assets to another entity in April 2011 and that as a result, it laid off all of its employees. Thus, defense counsel argued that the plaintiffs’ alleged loss of earnings was cut off, at the very latest, by April 2011 because the hospital had no employees after that date.