In Discrimination Lawsuit, Jury Finds for Beverly Hills Hotel

A jury today rejected claims by two former and one current employee of the Beverly Hills Hotel who alleged they suffered employment law violations ranging from sexual battery to discrimination based on their gender and ethnic background.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for about a day before finding in favor of the hotel and its former general manager, Alberto del Hoyo. Plaintiffs Tim Dupree, Nino O’Brien and Wendy Giron had sought millions of dollars in damages.

“We’re very gratified that the jury awarded the plaintiffs nothing,” attorney Arch Stokes said on behalf of the hotel and del Hoyo.

In his closing argument Monday, Stokes called the lawsuit “a scam of mudslinging of a great hotelier and a great hotel for the purpose of getting money.”

O’Brien, who is Indian-Irish, was the only remaining plaintiff working at the hotel, where he is a wine expert in the renowned Polo Lounge. He testified that his former boss, Micah Paloff, told him in April 2011 that he was being fired, then later told him it was a practical joke for April Fool’s Day.

O’Brien testified that despite his sales successes and his contributions to the hotel’s income, Paloff was jealous of him. He said Paloff -- who was dismissed as a defendant in the lawsuit before trial -- made a “dark leprechaun” comment one year around St. Patrick’s Day in reference to the plaintiff’s half-Irish ancestry and skin color.

O’Brien said he is heterosexual, but Paloff thought he looked feminine and often made inappropriate remarks, including suggesting that a gay patron take O’Brien home with him.

Stokes scoffed at any suggestion that Paloff’s actions during the April Fool’s Day incident were meant to be “mean-spirited” toward O’Brien.

“Everybody thought it was a joke,” Stokes told jurors.

Stokes denied that Dupree, the hotel’s former sales director, was the victim of gender discrimination. Dupree testified that he had difficulties with a female member of his staff and that del Hoyo favored her because she was female.

But Stokes said that prior to his 2010 firing, Dupree was rehired at the hotel after a failed venture in Las Vegas and that del Hoyo gave him the job instead of the same female staff member he alleges was preferred by the general manager.

Attorney Rob Hennig, who represents the plaintiffs, said he will speak with his clients about a possible appeal. He said the jury was not allowed to hear the results of an internal hotel report that could have had an impact on how they viewed the lawsuit’s claims that female employees were given the benefit of the doubt in disputes with their male counterparts.

Hennig alleged del Hoyo inappropriately touched Giron, a Polo Lounge hostess for five years, as well as other hostesses. The alleged misconduct reminded Giron of her own abuse as a child and raised the single parent’s concerns that something similar could happen to her young daughter, Hennig said.

Del Hoyo retired from the hotel in 2011. He denied any wrongdoing, testifying he had built a strong reputation as a manager by working in hotels worldwide before coming to the Beverly Hills Hotel, whose Polo Lounge is considered one of the premier power-dining spots in Southern California.

--City News Service

PHOTO The Beverly Hills Hotel, home of the Polo Lounge. Patch file photo.