My client is a 40 year employee working as the Shipping Manager for Silva Farms in Gonzales, CA. Before he agreed to start working for Silva Farms, my client met with Edward Silva and his son John Silva and negotiated an oral contract allowing him to live in a house Mr. Silva bought for him and his family for as long as he was employed with Silva Farms. In 2014, Thersa Silva Amaral became the General Manager of Silva Farms because her father, Edward Silva became ill. She took over and began charging my client rent for living in the house her father bought for my client and his family. On April 7, 2022, the tubes malfunctioned that are used to cool the produce and so he and Ms. Amaral got into a heated argument over the tubes and the produce, when my client indicated he did not want to escalate the argument and walked off the job and went home. The next day, Silva Farms delivered to him 2 checks, which he assumed meant he was terminated from employment with Silva Farms. Approximately 1 month later, Silva Farms and Ms. Amaral brought an eviction action against him and evicted him from the home. He sued Silva Farms for Harassment, Failure to prevent Harassment, Age Discrimination, Breach of an employment contract, and unlawful termination based on a violation of public policy.
The case went to a court trial, and my client testified and after his testimony, the Defendant Silva Farms made a motion to dismiss because the elements of the cause of action had not been met. The court agreed and dismissed counts 1,2,3, and 5 but left in Count 4, Breach of contract. After all the testimony was in to the judge, he found for my client because he believed there was a contract between himself and Silva Farms that he could live in the house for the entire time he was employed and ruled he was wrongfully terminated, resulting in the breach of the contract. My client received damages between the difference he was paying rent and the fair market rental value times 3 years, which is how much longer he was going to work. The reason this case is so important is because everyone, including a mediator, and two judges told my client he was going to lose the case. It was only with my great skill as a trial lawyer resulted in my client prevailing over everyone else telling us we were going to lose.