Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 857088.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 857088.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
Source verification: official_capture_completeness_unverified
Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/857088.pdf ↗

Related Parts of This Source

Full Text

1,788 chars

SYMETRA NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE
COMPANY, and JEREMY FREESTONE,
an individual,

Respondents.

FELDMAN, J. — Thomas Bittner sued his former employer, Symetra Life

Insurance Company (Symetra), and its Senior Vice President, Jeremy Freestone,

alleging several violations of the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD),

including retaliation and disability discrimination, as well as various contractual and

wage claims. The trial court dismissed Bittner’s WLAD claims on summary

judgment, and a jury later returned a defense verdict on Bittner’s remaining claims

that proceeded to trial. Bittner appeals the trial court’s dismissal on summary

judgment of his WLAD claims, judgment on the jury verdict, and award of costs to

Symetra. We reverse the trial court’s dismissal of Bittner’s retaliation claims and

remand for further proceedings on those claims. We also vacate the trial court’s

cost award. In all other respects, we affirm.
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
No. 85708-8-I

I

A. Factual background 1

In 2010, Symetra hired Bittner as a Regional Vice President (RVP) of Sales.

In this role, Bittner supervised a team of sales representatives who sold stop loss

insurance policies. From 2014 onward, Bittner’s sales team consistently exceeded

its annual sales quota. In 2015, Symetra promoted Bittner and expanded his sales

territory.

In October 2014, one of Bittner’s sales representatives, Deborah Rotz,

informed him that the company’s Vice President of Underwriting, David Manning,

had sexually harassed and verbally abused her. Bittner reported Manning’s

conduct to Symetra Human Resources (HR) and encouraged Rotz to do the same,

which she did. In response, an HR representative advised Rotz to “contact Dave