The Expert Needed to Assess Damages in their Equal Pay Case
Case Details
Court: US District Court for the Central District of California
Case Number: 2:19-cv-01717
Case Name: Alex Morgan et al v. United States Soccer Federation, Inc.
Challenge
The law firm Winston & Strawn was representing the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) in their equal pay lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). The USWNT claimed USSF violated the Equal Pay Act and Title VII. The law firm sought a damages expert who could assess what the financial damages awarded should be.
The GLG Approach
The GLG Law team spoke with the law firm to determine the background and knowledge the right expert witness would need. The team custom recruited candidates to present to the client, and the firm selected Finnie Cook, a PhD economist with experience assessing economic damages.
Dr. Cook submitted a report that estimated the backpay owed to the players under Title VII if they had been compensated under the Men’s National Team collective bargaining agreement. She also included interest and liquidated damages with these figures.
Outcome
For willful violation of the Equal Pay Act, Dr. Cook estimated the liquidated damages would be $29.7 million and that backpay and interest owed under Title VII would be $66.7 million. A judge dismissed the equal pay assertion in May of 2020, but the case was appealed in December of 2021 and the USWNT settled their class action lawsuit for $24 million and reached a new collective bargaining agreement.
A law firm sought an expert witness with experience determining economic damages for an equal pay lawsuit. GLG identified and placed a uniquely qualified expert witness to calculate what the financial damages awarded should be, and report on those findings.
Project Breadth:
One expert witness placed to assess what the financial damages awarded to the USWNT should be.
Quality Expertise, Quickly:
GLG custom recruited two qualified candidates and sent them to the client within two business days.
Complimentary Screening:
The client conducted screening calls before choosing the expert. These are complimentary in GLG’s Expert Witness selection process to help clients validate expertise and find the right witnesses for their cases.
As The World’s Insight Network, GLG connects clients to the subject-matter experts who can provide real-world insights to make informed decisions. Our team of professionals work with you to create a tailored approach that identifies, assesses, and answers your questions on your timeline. We bring the power of insight to every great professional decision.
Hilary Malone PhD, has over 25 years of experience in global drug development, regulatory &government affairs, manufacturing and commercialization within the biopharma industry. Hilary hassignificant board level and executive committee experience including large scale organizationalrestructuring/transformation/integration, major M&A, biotech start-up, capital raising, investorrelations and pre-IPO.
Hilary is currently CEO of Stylus Medicine, a private genetic medicine biotech company. Previously sheserved as CEO of a Series-A neuroscience company. Prior to these roles, Hilary served as COO & EVP atValo Health Inc., Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP at Sanofi Inc., and Chief Regulatory Officer & SVP atPfizer and Wyeth. Previous experience also includes senior regulatory and drug development roles atReata Pharmaceuticals Inc., AstraZeneca plc and GlaxoSmithKline plc.
Hilary also serves on the Board of Directors of Hansa Biopharma and Adthera Bio. Hilary holds a PhD inMolecular Neuropharmacology and a BSc in Physiology.
Dr. Thomas Lönngren is Director at his own company PharmaExec Consulting AB. He is the Chairman of the Board of directors at Egetis Therapeutics AB, Sweden. Dr Lönngren also serves as board member at Compass Pathways PLC, London UK and NDA Group, Sweden. He acts as advisor to the following companies and organizations: NDA group, Sweden, Sweden, Artis Venture, San Francisco, US, Fujimoto Japan, Skin2Neuron Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia, US, Special advisor to the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science (CIRS), London UK. From 2001 until2011, Mr.Lönngren served as the Executive Director of the European Medical Agency. He was previously Deputy General Director of the Swedish Medical Product Agency until 2000. He has a degree in pharmacy and MSc in Social and Regulatory Pharmacy from Uppsala University. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Great Britain, Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Honorary Doctorate from University of Bath, UK.
Marie-Anne has built a portfolio of senior advisory and non-executive roles, following a successful international career in the FMCG and Luxury sectors. She is a non-executive director of Haleon, a FTSE100 company listed in 2022 after the demerger from GSK. She is also chairwoman of Haleon Environment and Societal Sustainability committee. She is the executive director of the Pierre Fabre Group where she also sits on the Strategic Committee, and she is a Board Member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, one of the world’s most prestigious chamber orchestras. She is also an angel investor and focuses her time and investments on start-ups with the strongest purpose and impact.
Marie-Anne is also a regular lecturer at HEC Paris on purposeful leadership, and she has created a serious game called “Planet Purpose” to upskill people on sustainability and purpose. Throughout her 35year executive career she delivered a strong track-record of business performance and growth in brands and portfolio in both developed and emerging economies.
As a senior leader with Unilever, she led a number of different personal care categories across France, Spain and the USA – including managing the Dove brand worldwide and culminating in leading Unilever’s global Oral Care division. She also worked for LVMH as Brand General Manager of Dior Perfumes and Cosmetics worldwide. Marie-Anne was also Vice-President of Imagine for Margo – Children with Cancer for ten years, a charity she helped found in 2011 with the goal of eradicating children’s cancer. The charity is the #1 charity focused on child cancer in France and has fundraised more than €14m since its creation. Marie-Anne is a graduate from HEC Paris. She is married and has two children aged 29 and 26.
Patrick Jephson is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author, based in Washington D.C. He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding and crisis communications, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the U.S. State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
With more than twenty-five years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included globally admired brands as well as national agencies and NGOs. He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty. He now writes, presents, and advises on factual and drama TV programs, appearing on every major American and many international networks. He was recently an expert consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown and provided live commentary on the Coronation of King Charles.
Patrick owes much of his practical communications and protocol experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff. He served the Princess for eight years, responsible for all aspects of her public life, global humanitarian initiatives, and private organization. Having worked for an internationally high-profile woman (and as the father of two professionally successful daughters) he feels a special affinity for cross-cultural, gender and perception issues.
Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a master’s degree in political science from Cambridge University. As an officer in the British Royal Navy, he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty. He is a citizen of the U.K., U.S.A., Ireland, and Canada.