Lisec

Pursuant to a judgment awarding damages for wrongful termination, appellant United Airlines, Inc. (hereafter, United), paid the amount of the judgment minus withholdings for state and federal income and Social Security taxes. The recipients, respondents James K. Lisec and Krishan K. Jagga, refused to acknowledge full satisfaction of the judgment, claiming that the damages were neither wages nor earned income and therefore were not subject to withholding. Appellants Richard J. Ferris and United appeal the trial court’s denial of their motion to compel acknowledgement of full satisfaction of the judgment.

Facts

Lisec and Jagga, long-term management employees of United, aggrieved when United paid a $1,000 award rather than 10 percent of estimated first-year savings for their suggestion that revenues could be increased by a liberalization of discount fare policies, sued United in 1973 for breach of contract and fraud. They won a well-reported verdict of almost $2 million at jury trial, but the verdict was reversed on appeal. (Lisec v. United Air Lines, Inc. (1978) 85 Cal.App.3d 969 [ 149 Cal.Rptr. 847 ], hereafter, Lisec I.)

While Lisec I was pending, respondents received…