This item is a bit out of the bailiwick of the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club, but it might strike a chord with some of our members. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury tonight awarded $7.1 million to former LA Times sports columnist T.J. Simers on his claim that the newspaper discriminated against him because of his age and disability.
Simers’ attorneys claimed during the six-week trial that the Times tried to stifle his critical coverage of former Dodgers owner Frank McCort and then diminished his role at the paper after he suffered a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with complex migraine syndrome. Simers, now 65, was making $234,000 a year when he was forced out of his job in 2013. The Times said it will appeal.