Susman Godfrey Wins Defense Verdict for The Rawlings Company in Employment Class Action

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May 27, 2011, 04:04 ET

HOUSTON, May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A jury in Oldham County, Kentucky returned a verdict Friday in favor of The Rawlings Company, in a class action brought against Rawlings and its founder George Rawlings on behalf of current and former medical claims auditors. The class action alleged that the company misclassified hundreds of employees as exempt from overtime laws, and improperly failed to pay them for overtime. The class action sought millions of dollars of overtime pay and penalties, for a period of more than 7 years. After a three week trial, the jury rejected the claims made by the class, and found that the Rawlings employees were properly classified as exempt.

The Rawlings Company, based in LaGrange, Kentucky, is the recognized leader in providing audit and subrogation services to the healthcare industry. Rawlings founder George R. Rawlings was a key witness at the trial.

Rawlings was represented in the trial by Susman Godfrey LLP, a 90 lawyer firm that specializes in business litigation on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. The case was tried by Susman Godfrey partners Neal Manne (Houston), Shawn Rabin (New York) and Kalpana Srinivasan (Los Angeles). After the verdict, Manne said on the Oldham County Courthouse steps, "We are delighted that the jury found in favor of Rawlings. Most class actions settle, including ones like this that challenge whether employees should be hourly or salaried. It took guts for Mr. Rawlings to stand his ground, and let us try this case to the jury. We are proud that he chose Susman Godfrey lawyers to defend him and his company in this landmark case."

www.susmangodfrey.com

SOURCE Susman Godfrey LLP