Patrick McGinnis v. Kentucky Fried Chicken of California

This case involves two issues, the retroactive availability of punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Both are questions of Washington law, but Washington state law applies federal law.

I. FACTS

Mr. McGinnis worked as a manager for Kentucky Fried Chicken. He developed cancer and required surgery. He returned to work shortly after his surgery, but required continuing treatment. For six weeks, he opened the restaurant each morning, drove thirty miles for his radiation treatment, then returned to the restaurant and worked until 11:00 at night. He developed depression for which he needed medication and therapy. He found himself unable to work the fifty to eighty hours per week he had put in before, because of the time he needed for treatment, the side effects of his radiation therapy, and depression. He asked his supervisors to reduce his hours, assign him to a lower volume store, and assign an assistant manager to his store. His evidence suggested that Kentucky Fried Chicken would ordinarily assign an assistant manager to a location as busy as his. The company refused to accommodate Mr. McGinnis’s requests and fired him. The date of termination was July 24, 1991, which is…