Walia

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

Appellants Aetna, Inc., Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc. and Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California, Inc. (Aetna) challenge a jury verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to Aetna's former employee, Anita Walia (Walia). Aetna contends the trial court erred in ruling the non-compete agreement it required Walia to sign violated Business and Professions Code section 16600 [1] and instructing the jury that Aetna's decision to terminate Walia because she refused to sign the agreement was a wrongful termination in violation of public policy. Aetna also makes various challenges to the propriety of awarding Walia compensatory and punitive damages. We affirm the judgment.

In the summer of 1996, Aetna merged with U.S. Healthcare to form a company called Aetna U.S. Healthcare. U.S. Healthcare, a company headquartered in Pennsylvania and operating principally on the East Coast, used non-compete agreements extensively among its employees. Aetna, however, did not. Aetna U.S. Healthcare's co-president, Michael Cardillo, who came to the newly merged company from U.S. Healthcare, believed it was important to require that a significant number…