Former Tapout Employee Receives $3.2M Jury Award

Following up on my earlier post, Former TapouT Employee’s Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Set for Trial in January – Claims Against Kreiner Dismissed, according to the Beverley Hills Courier, the former employee, Michelle Thomas “was today awarded $2.4 million in punitive damages by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury.”

According to the article, “[t]he panel deliberated for about a half-hour before finding in favor of Michelle Thomas in her wrongful termination case. The same panel on Monday awarded her $840,000 in compensatory damages, bringing her total award to more than $3.2 million.”

Consistent with the allegations in the complaint, the article provides that Thomas testified “that employees were told to pay out of their own pocket for any television subscriptions needed to view the company’s show on the Versus cable network, called ‘TapouT,’ as well as pay-per-view Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts.”

Justin Klein is an attorney at Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP in New York City where he concentrates his practice in commercial litigation and represents clients in the fight industry.  He regularly addresses current legal issues that pertain to combat sports, including efforts to legalize MMA in New York, at his Fight Lawyer website.  He is a licensed boxing manager with the New York State Athletic Commission as well as the founder and Chairman of the Board of the New York Mixed Martial Arts Initiative, a non-profit organization that gives inner city youth the opportunity to experience the emotional and physical benefits of martial arts training.  Justin lives in New York City where he trains in jiu jitsu and boxing.

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