Shaw

Hughes Aircraft Company (Hughes or Hughes Aircraft) appeals from a jury verdict for Garreth E. Shaw in this wrongful termination action, challenging the legal sufficiency of each cause of action upon which Shaw recovered.

Shaw moves to dismiss the appeal, arguing the notice of appeal filed by Hughes’s parent company, Hughes Electronics Corporation (Hughes Electronics), was ineffective because it was not a party to the action. Hughes Electronics in turn moves to be substituted as the proper party appellant. We deny the motion to dismiss and grant the motion to substitute. On the merits, we reverse and remand for a new trial on three of the causes of action.

Shaw, a government contracts lawyer, left a high-level position with the federal government in 1990 to join Hughes’s in-house legal staff. He was assigned to the Hughes Industrial Electronics Group, where his immediate supervisor was Senior Staff Counsel Paul Bogenrief, through whom he was ultimately responsible to General Counsel John Higgins. Shaw provided legal advice to various Hughes divisions. His office was located at the Microelectronics Division in Newport Beach, managed by Donald Shrock.

Prior to the summer…