Journalist Settles Age Bias Suit Against NBC

By Matt Reynolds
(Courthouse News Service, Los Angeles)

Veteran journalist Frank Snepp has settled claims that he was forced out of NBCUniversal Media’s LA news affiliate KNBC-TV because of his age.

Snepp filed a notice of settlement on March 28 and NBC asked a judge to dismiss the case on April 18, according to court records at Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Late last year, a California state court judge declared a mistrial in the journalist’s age discrimination suit against NBC, after a jury deadlocked following three full days of deliberations.

Snepp sued NBCUniversal Media and its Los Angeles affiliate KNBC-TV in 2014. The 73-year-old producer and reporter claimed news director Todd Mokhtari and general manager Steve Carlston abruptly fired him from his $120,000-a-year position in October 2012 after he had complained about age discrimination and ageism.

Snepp was 69 when he lost his job.

After NBC hired him in 2006, the former CIA operative won three Emmys, a Los Angeles Press Club award and a Peabody Award for his investigative reporting at the station.

Comcast acquired NBCUniversal in 2009, and Snepp said the philosophy of the station changed as it addressed declining ratings and pivoted towards a more youthful audience.

Along with the rebrand, reporters were given new job titles as “content producers,” told to take a more hands-on approach during production and write more stories, the jury heard during the trial.

But NBC said there was no evidence that the station had discriminated against Snepp and claimed that he had refused to do assigned production tasks or learn to use a newsroom editing system.

Snepp had also worked on HBO movie scripts, television pitches and other side projects while working at NBC, the media company said, including a script based on his book “Irreparable Harm.”

The book detailed a campaign of retaliation against Snepp for writing the expose “Decent Interval,” detailing his time as a CIA operative during the Vietnam War. But Snepp’s attorneys argued that the movie projects were “red herrings” that masked the station’s discriminatory conduct.

Snepp had sought almost $5.5 million in damages. A new trial date of April 18 was taken off the court’s calendar.

Snepp’s attorneys Suzelle Smith and Ames Magill Smith of Howarth & Smith were not immediately available for comment by phone on Wednesday.

Their spokeswoman Kathy Pinckert said she could not disclose how much the journalist had settled the case for.

“The matter was resolved,” Pinckert said.

During a brief phone interview, NBC’s attorney Bart Williams, with the firm Proskauer, also said he could not disclose the terms of the settlement.

Ex-NBC Reporter Took Orders But Booted Anyway, Jury Hears

By Daniel Siegal
(Law360, Los Angeles)

A Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist alleging NBC painted him as insubordinate as a pretense to fire him from its Los Angeles station took the stand Monday in an age bias and wrongful termination trial, telling a California jury he never refused an assignment.

During the third day of trial in Los Angeles on 72-year-old Frank Snepp's claims that his supervisors concocted a false pattern of insubordination to fire him from NBCUniversal Media LLC's Los Angeles affiliate because of his age, Snepp himself took the stand.

Under examination by his attorney, Suzelle Smith of Howarth & Smith, Snepp gave a broad overview of his responsibilities as an investigative journalist at the station, and walked the jury through the steps of producing an investigative report, from getting a tip and researching the story to shooting, editing, adding graphics and having the final product cleared by NBC's legal department.

Snepp said that despite the “lively give and take” he engaged in with his superiors when pushing to get his reporting on the air, he “never refused an assignment.”

NBC has argued during the trial that Snepp was fired because after a company reorganization in 2009 resulted in Snepp switching job titles — from Field Producer to Content Producer — and getting a $10,000 salary bump, the journalist refused his bosses' orders to expand the scope of his job to include producing more, shorter stories, and to handle certain photographing and editing responsibilities himself.

Smith on Monday asked Snepp about the impact of NBC's reorganization on his job duties, and Snepp said that the station's News Director at the time of the switch, Bob Long, told him it was “simply a name change,” and wouldn't change what his job entailed.

“He said that investigative journalism was the way to improve viewership, to attract people, they would come to see original reporting ... it was the DNA, he said, of NBC,” Snepp said.

A reporter for the network's Los Angeles affiliate, KNBC-TV, Snepp sued in October 2013, alleging he was a victim of the station's efforts to appeal to a younger demographic when he was terminated in October 2012 at age 69.

Snepp, who was a chief intelligence analyst for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, has decades of television news experience under his belt. He was hired by NBC in 2005 at the age of 61. One year later, he earned the Peabody Award for a four-part series that investigated environmental and safety hazards at the site of a commercial-residential development in southwest Los Angeles.

According to Snepp's complaint, around 2009, NBC started focusing on its online content and began marginalizing Snepp and other older employees. In August 2010, there was a change in leadership at the station: Vickie Burns, who took over as news director, frequently stated her desire to appeal to a young audience of 20-somethings, Snepp said.

Once, at a morning staff meeting, Snepp alleged that Burns turned to him and said, "Some people just see you as a grumpy old man who oughta just quit."

Burns also allegedly scolded another employee, NBC Platform Manager Todd Reed, after he put Snepp on air to provide commentary for the breaking story of Osama bin Laden’s death in May 2011.

Snepp's civil complaint said his experience with ageism was not unique. Throughout his employment, he made several complaints about the company's apparent age discrimination, including submitting a 150-page summary of his experiences to his superiors.

Snepp's suit also claims he was retaliated against for speaking out about the age discrimination at the station.

That cause of action, however, was tossed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney in August. He agreed with NBC that Snepp failed to show a causal link between his complaints about age discrimination to the network's human resources and legal departments, and the news managers who fired him.

Last week, Bart Williams of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, representing NBC, told the jury during opening statements that Snepp was in fact the victim of his own obstinacy and refusal to adjust after the reorganization that resulted in more than 50 layoffs.

Williams noted that other decorated employees at the station, including anchor Paul Moyer, who teamed with Snepp on his Peabody-winning story, were cooperating, but Snepp flatly refused his bosses' entreaties.

Trial will resume Tuesday morning with more direct examination of Snepp.

Snepp is represented by Suzelle Smith, Don Howarth, Jessica C. Walsh and Archibald Magill Smith IV of Howarth & Smith.

NBC is represented by Bart H. Williams, Manuel F. Cachan, Margaret G. Maraschino and Erin J. Cox of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP.

The case is Frank W. Snepp v. NBCUniversal Media LLC et al., case number BC523279, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

NBC Benched Reporter For Being ‘Too Veteran,’ Jury Told

By Daniel Siegal
(Law360, Los Angeles)

A former colleague of an investigative journalist alleging NBC's Los Angeles station fired him because of his age on Friday told a California jury the station's news director had insisted the journalist be kept off the air because he was “too veteran.”

During the second day of 72-year-old Frank Snepp's age bias and wrongful termination trial in Los Angeles, the former journalist for NBCUniversal Media LLC's local affiliate called to the stand a former colleague at the station, Todd Reed, to testify about a disagreement he had with Vickie Burns, who took over at news director at the station in 2010 and frequently stated her desire to appeal to a young audience of 20-somethings, according to Snepp's suit.

Under examination by Snepps' attorney Suzelle Smith of Howarth & Smith, Reed, who had worked as a producer and then Platform Manager at KNBC with Snepp, said that he put Snepp — a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst — on air to provide commentary for the breaking story of Osama Bin Laden's killing by the U.S. in May 2011. After he tried to bring Snepp on-air again in the following days to again provide commentary, however, Burns blocked him from doing so, telling him after the segment that it was because Snepp was “too veteran.”

Manuel Cachan of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, representing NBC, during a sometimes testy cross-examination asked Reed extensively about apparent discrepancies between the way he described the incident on Friday compared to how he described it in a sworn declaration, asking if he “just forgot” what happened when he said he “believed” he'd been asked to keep Snepp off-air because he was a veteran employee.

Reed said that Cachan could “nitpick words,” but that he knew what Burns had said, and added that from the “expression on her face,” it was evident what she meant.

“Matter of factly she tells me, he was too veteran,” he said.

A reporter for the network's Los Angeles affiliate, KNBC-TV, Snepp sued in October 2013, alleging he was a victim of the station's efforts to appeal to a younger demographic when he was terminated in October 2012 at age 69.

Snepp, who was a chief intelligence analyst for the CIA in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, has decades of television news experience under his belt. He was hired by NBC in 2005 at the age of 61. One year later, he earned the Peabody Award for a four-part series that investigated environmental and safety hazards at the site of a commercial-residential development in southwest Los Angeles.

Snepp alleged that Burns' taking over newsroom, however, older employers were marginalized, and claimed that in addition to him being prevented from going on air for continued Bin Laden commentary, Burns once told him in a meeting, "Some people just see you as a grumpy old man who oughta just quit."

Snepp's civil complaint said his experience with ageism was not unique. Throughout his employment, he made several complaints about the company's apparent age discrimination, including submitting a 150-page summary of his experiences to his superiors.

Snepp's suit also claims he was retaliated against for speaking out about the age discrimination at the station.

That cause of action, however, was tossed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney in August. He agreed with NBC that Snepp failed to show a causal link between his complaints about age discrimination to the network's human resources and legal departments, and the news managers who fired him.

During opening statements on Thursday, Smith told the jury that Snepp's supervisors concocted a false pattern of insubordination to fire him.

In his opening statement, Bart Williams of Munger Tolles & Olson, representing NBC, told the jury that Snepp was in fact the victim of his own obstinacy and refusal to adjust after NBC underwent a reorganization that resulted in more than 50 layoffs.

On Friday, Williams called to the stand Robert L. Long, the news director who preceded Burns, and who had hired Snepp, and asked him whether he would consider it unprofessional if Snepp had maintained an “intimate, sexual relationship” with one of his confidential sources from a story.

Long said he would consider it unprofessional. Trial adjourned for the day before the conclusion of the cross-examination, and will resume on Monday morning.

Snepp is represented by Suzelle Smith, Don Howarth, Jessica C. Walsh and Archibald Magill Smith IV of Howarth & Smith.

NBC is represented by Bart H. Williams, Manuel F. Cachan, Margaret G. Maraschino and Erin J. Cox of Munger Tolles & Olson LLP.

The case is Frank W. Snepp v. NBCUniversal Media LLC et al., case number BC523279, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

NBCUniversal "Marginalized" Older Employees, Claims Reporter in Trial Opening

By Austin Siegemund-Broka
(The Hollywood Reporter)

@franksnepp1/Twitter

Lawyers for Frank Snepp, 72, argued in court Thursday that his ouster from KNBC in 2012 reflected NBCUniversal's treatment of other employees.

NBCUniversal will answer accusations of age discrimination in the trial of a lawsuit brought by Frank Snepp, a former KNBC reporter who claims the network fired him for his years.

Snepp sued in 2013 for his termination from Los Angeles' KNBC in 2012, when he was 69. In the Los Angeles Superior Court trial, which opened Thursday, his lawyer's opening statement placed Snepp's removal within a trend of alleged discrimination on the part of NBCUniversal and KNBC.

"NBC acted intentionally. They papered his file with untrue criticisms. They did the same thing to other employees. They wanted Mr. Snepp out for age-related reasons. There was a pattern," said Suzelle Smith of Howarth & Smith, Snepp's lawyer.

Snepp is an interesting figure. The former CIA analyst published the book Decent Interval on the CIA's operations in Vietnam without the CIA reviewing it before publication, which Snepp's employment contract required. The United States took him to court, and a 1980 Supreme Court decision found his First Amendment rights did not protect him from having breached the prepublication requirement.

He became a journalist, going on to document the government's role in the Iran-Contra Affair and win awards including a Peabody (presented by a young Jon Stewart) and an Emmy.

In 2006, Snepp became a field producer for Los Angeles' KNBC and in 2009 he became a content producer.

Weeks after NBC concluded a lawsuit with AEG over his investigative piece about fire protection issues at Staples Center, NBC fired him. Snepp claimed in his complaint the following year the network terminated him for his age (he was 69), alleging members of the news leadership recently installed at the station made ageist comments, including a superior telling him, “Some people just see you as a grumpy old man who oughta just quit."

NBCUniversal says Snepp was fired for poor job performance. In a motion for summary judgment, the company argued that to prove discrimination, Snepp needed to have been replaced by a younger employee.

Judge Stephen Moloney denied the motion in August, setting the case up for trial. The judge would not permit Snepp to argue his claim of retaliation, but found it unclear whether a younger replacement was required for the discrimination claim and ruled Snepp "has submitted evidence that suggests age-animus based on the believed reason why Plaintiff was removed."

The trial, previously set to begin Nov. 9, got postponed because Judge Rolf Treu recused himself. Now in Moloney’s courtroom, the trial opened Thursday following jury selection earlier in the week.

Smith argued that in a 2009 reorganization, NBCUniversal had devised the "content producer" position in order to fire employees by reverse-engineering requirements of the job. "NBC now had a weapon it could use against older, sometimes higher paid employees in the newsroom," said Smith. "NBC could create a list of anything it wanted to come under the umbrella, and criticize older employees if they were failing according to NBC's own structure for not meeting the requirements of content producer."

After the retirement of KNBC's Bob Long, whom Smith called "a watchdog against age discrimination," the network targeted older employees with criticism "they couldn't understand" and unfair performance reviews, said Smith. "When NBC management was criticizing other older employees unfairly, some of them just gave up. They will testify that some of them who felt they were being marginalized and set up for failure and termination were told, 'You can resign or you're going to be fired,' and most of them took the resign package," she said.

Snepp declined, so KNBC fired him, she continued.

Smith added that Snepp had not fallen behind the times, calling him "one of the pioneers" of online journalism and "one of those investigative journalists who changes the world we live in."

NBCUniversal counsel Bart Williams of Munger Tolles & Olson told a different story, one in which NBCUniversal introduced the content producer position to combat the Great Recession and the changing media market. Under the system, reporters would learn to produce every element of news stories, including the writing, editing, voiceover and video graphics. "Mr. Snepp said he didn’t need to change, and his bosses said he did. Mr. Snepp stubbornly clung to a model of news reporting that was largely being replaced," said Williams.

Snepp repeatedly avoided "training that was key for him to be self-sufficient like other content producers" and invoked his journalism recognition when superiors would critique his work, continued Williams, and he relied on other content producers for editing and graphics while spending months or years on investigative reporting. "You will hear over the course of 2011 and 2012 friction between Mr. Snepp and his bosses," said Williams. "They said, 'Look, the bottom line is, you’re the only content producer who requires help from other content producers to get a story on air, and that needs to change.'"

Finally, said Williams cryptically, "You will hear about conduct that, had KNBC known about it, would have brought about his termination from KNBC."

Former KNBC content producer Yvonne Beltzer, 71, took the stand Thursday afternoon. A news writer before the content producer system, she said she's "still trying to figure [out]" what the content producer position entailed. "My job did not change," she said. Beltzer received instruction that the content producer job involved every element of producing a story, she said under cross-examination, "but that's not what happened."

In 2013, her employers brought her into a conference room and told her she required writing lessons, she said. "I did not feel I needed remedial writing lessons. I was insulted they would take an employee who had been there for 30 years and treat them in that manner," said Beltzer. “There was a person at HR there who said we do have some buyouts. I said make me an offer, and I took a buyout."

When Snepp lawyer Ames Smith asked whether Beltzer wanted to exit KNBC, she said no.

Age discrimination lawsuits are not uncommon in Hollywood. Recent litigation on the subject includes complaints against Warner Bros. from a Big Bang Theory assistant director, against Sony from a stuntman on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, against Disney from a fired story department employee (who allegedly was replaced by a younger employee) and against WME from a former assistant then in his late 30s.

Snepp's trial will continue Friday. He likely will not testify until the coming week.

NBC News Age-Discrimination Suit Trial Start Postponed – Update

By Patrick Hipes and Dominic Patten
(Deadline.com)

UPDATE, 11:40 AM: Looks like Frank Snepp’s age-discrimination battle with NBC News will not be going to trial today as scheduled. The proceedings never really started on Monday morning as L.A. Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu said he will not be overseeing the matter. A new judge is now going to be named in the case and a new start date for the trial is expected at the same time.

The now 72-year old former CIA analyst and award winning producer first sued NBCUniversal and Comcast on October 1, 2013 claiming that he had been dropped from LA affiliate KNBC in late 2012 due to his age. NBC News lost an attempt to dismiss the case back in August.

PREVIOUS, NOV. 6PM: A November 9 trial date in Los Angeles Superior Court has been set for ex-KNBC TV investigative producer Frank Snepp’s age-discrimination lawsuit Printagainst NBC News and parents NBCUniversal and Comcast. Snepp, now 72, filed suit in October 2013 after he was fired the year before by KNBC News Director Steve Carlston, who cited no cause and who informed him his “content producer position” was being eliminated. But Snepp claims the local L.A. affiliate still was producing investigative news stories and was keeping its three much-younger investigative producers on staff.

In August, Judge Stephen Moloney refused the media giant’s best efforts to have the Emmy- and Peabody-winning journalist’s case thrown out. Moloney said in a motion for summary judgment hearing that Snepp, a former CIA analyst, had provided enough evidence that a “discriminatory motive” was a factor to be able to move forward.

NBC claims Snepp was let go from KNBC because he was no good at his job. Since being hired in 2005, his worked help win the station three Emmys, a Peabody and a Western Region Edward R. Murrow Award.

Snepp seeks compensatory damages and punitive damages for wrongful termination. He is repped by Suzelle M. Smith and Archibald “Ames” Magill Smith IV of Howarth & Smith. NBC is repped by Bart Williams of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Too Old for NBC?

By Christen Kalkanis
(The Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal)

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (hereinafter “the ADEA”) was enacted by Congress to forbid employers from treating someone less favorably because of their age. It further prevents employers from hiring or firing potential or current employees specifically over the age of forty.¹ In order for a Plaintiff to recover in an age discrimination suit, they were required to satisfy these four elements: (1) he is within the protected class, i.e., is over forty; (2) he was qualified to have been retained; (3) he suffered from an adverse employment action; and (4) the employer retained a sufficiently younger and similarly situated individual to permit a reasonable inference of age discrimination.² Since then, tens of thousands of cases have been filed by various people alleging age discrimination by their employers.³ One specific case seen recently has further enforced the Supreme Court decision that element four, outlined in the ADEA, is no longer required to prevail in such a suit.⁴

One case currently being investigated is between reporter Frank W. Snepp and NBC Universal Media LLP.⁵ On October 3, 2013, it was reported that Snepp, a Peabody-Award Winning reporter, sued his former employer, NBC, for firing him because he was simply too old.⁶ Snepp alleged that the “youth movement” occurring at NBC was forcing out investigative reporters older than forty years old, in order to replace them with younger, more vivacious journalists.⁷ At sixty-nine years old, Snepp was a victim of the so-called “youth movement,” and therefore was discharged from his job.⁸ The complaint also included statements claiming that NBC hired reporters under forty years old to replace Snepp soon after he left the station.⁹ NBC fired back arguing that Snepp was discharged from his decade-long stint at the news station for “poor job performance” and not because of his age.¹⁰ They also argued that there is no evidence to prove that Snepp was in fact replaced by a younger reporter, and thus moved for a summary judgement motion.¹¹ NBC relied on Hersant v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., a California Appellate Court case from 1998, to support their argument that the claimant must “present evidence that his demotion was based on age discrimination” specifically showing that a younger replacement was indeed forthcoming.¹²

Recently, a California Superior Court ruled that the case will not be thrown out, and instead will proceed to trial.¹³ In his holding, Judge Moloney stated that NBC’s dependence on the Hersant case was invalid because “Hersant expressly stated that it was unclear whether replacement by a younger person is a required element of the prima facie case.”¹⁴ In fact, the United States Supreme Court clearly outlined in a 1996 holding that the McDonnell Douglas test will be what one must adhere to when claiming age discrimination.¹⁵ More precisely, the test states that “adequate evidence is required to create an inference that an employment decision was based on illegal discriminatory criterion.”¹⁶ Finding that the Defendant hired a younger employee as one’s replacement is not necessary nor a requirement. The holding further discloses that asking a Plaintiff to prove that he was replaced by a younger employer would go against the protections Congress tried to build; it would create situations in which it is acceptable to discriminate as long as the employee fired was replaced by a person age forty or older.¹⁷ Therefore, in November when this case proceeds to trial, we will find out if Mr. Snepp’s claim against NBC will prevail.

---

¹ See 29 U.S.C. § 631(a).

² Elwell v. PP & L, 47 Fed.Appx. 183 (3d Cir.2002)(quoting Sempier v. Johnson & Higgins, 45 F.3d 724, 728 (3d Cir.1995)).

³ See, e.g., Allen v. Highlands Hosp. Corp., 545 F.3d 387, 394 (6th Cir. 2008); Ercegovich v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 154 F.3d 344 (6th Cir. 1998); DiMascio v. Gen. Elec. Co., 27 A.D.3d 854, 812 N.Y.S.2d 145 (2006).

⁴ See Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 134, 120 S. Ct. 2097, 2101, 147 L. Ed. 2d 105 (2000); see also McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 93 S. Ct. 1817, 36 L. Ed. 2d 668 (1973).

⁵ Frank W. Snepp v. Comcast Corp., 2013 WL 5469508 (Cal.Super. 2013).

⁶ See id; See Bonnie Eslinger, NBC Can’t Nix Peabody-Winning Reporter’s Age Bias Suit, Law 360 (Aug. 28, 2015, 7:47 PM), http://www.law360.com/employment/articles/696886/nbc-can-t-nix-peabody-winning-reporter-s-age-bias-suit-?about=employment.

⁷ Frank W. Snepp, 2013 WL 5469508 at 2.

⁸ See id.

⁹ See id.

¹⁰ Frank W. Snepp, 2013 WL 5469508 at 2; see also Eslinger supra, note 6.

¹¹ See id.

¹² Hersant v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 57 Cal. App. 4th 483, 485 (1997).

¹³ Frank W. Snepp, 2013 WL 5469508 at 2; see also Eslinger, supra note 6.

¹⁴ See id (explaining that the standard requiring an actual replacement of an older employee by a younger employee is ambiguous).

¹⁵ McDonnell Douglas Corp., 411 U.S. at 796.

¹⁶ O’Connor v. Consol. Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308, 312, 116 S. Ct. 1307, 1310, 134 L. Ed. 2d 433 (U.S. 1996), quoting Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 358, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1866, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977).

¹⁷ See id.

NBCUniversal Headed to Trial Over Reporter's Age Discrimination Claims

by Eriq Gardner
(The Hollywood Reporter)

Frank Snepp, former KNBC investigative reporter, was fired at the age of 69.

At age 72, Frank Snepp is quietly having a remarkable year and now could be on the verge of a trial against NBCUniversal.

Snepp was once an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency whose Vietnam-focused book Decent Interval triggered a dispute with the U.S. government over whether he could publish without pre-approval. The case resulted in a landmark 1980 Supreme Court ruling upholding his confidentiality obligations over the First Amendment rights of a whistleblower. The decision was leaned upon by a retired naval officer who sued over Citizenfour, the Edward Snowden doc that won an Oscar for Best Documentary Film. At the Academy Awards earlier this year, Citizenfour beat out Last Days in Vietnam, which featured Snepp as one of the primary interviewees.

The interesting year for Snepp may have started with connections to two celebrated documentary films, but it may end with a notable trial.

After working at the CIA, Snepp became an investigative journalist, breaking news about the Iran Contra scandal, Monica Lewinski, SEAL Team 6, and more. In his career, he's won many prizes including a Peabody.

In 2006, he was hired by LA's KNBC as a field producer. Two years later, he was re-hired as a content producer. Despite his career achievements, Snepp was terminated in 2012.

In a lawsuit against KNBC, NBCUniversal and Comcast, Snepp asserts that the reason for his firing was his advanced age. He was terminated just six weeks after NBC resolved a lawsuit with AEG stemming from his investigative piece about fire protection failure issues at the Staples Center. He alleges a new team had come in to lead news at the NBC station and that he was subjected to comments from superiors like "some people just see you as a grumpy old man who oughta just quit."

The defendants brought a summary judgment motion that argued that to establish discriminatory motive, Snepp had to show a younger person replaced him.

Judge Stephen Moloney responded that it's not clear "whether replacement by a younger person is a required element of the prima facie case" and further rules that Snepp has raised a triable issue over the reasons for his termination.

NBC is arguing Snepp was fired for inadequate performance while Snepp alleges such a review was a pretext.

According to the judge's ruling: "Here, Plaintiff has submitted evidence that suggests age-animus based on the believed reason why Plaintiff was removed as an on-air commentator and new leadership wanting to phase out older employees. Additionally, Plaintiff has submitted evidence of ageist-statements that Plaintiff should quit or retire because of his age. Defendants argue that the ageist-statements are stray remarks; however, the probative value of challenged remarks turns on the facts of each case."

Maloney does allow NBC to escape Snepp's claim for retaliation. The judge finds there's no evidence presented that the decision makers knew that Snepp made had made complaints to the station's human resources department.

Nevertheless, represented by Howarth & Smith, Snepp advances on the larger discrimination allegation. A trial is currently scheduled for November 2.

NBC Can’t Nix Peabody-Winning Reporter’s Age Bias Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger
(Law360, Los Angeles)

A California judge on Friday refused to toss age discrimination claims against NBCUniversal Media LLC brought by a fired investigative journalist, saying the Peabody Award-winning reporter needn’t show he was replaced by someone significantly younger to prove older workers in the newsroom were treated less favorably.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney’s ruling keeps journalist Frank W. Snepp’s suit on track for a Nov. 2 trial. A reporter for the network's Los Angeles affiliate, KNBC-TV, Snepp sued in October 2013, alleging he was the victim of the station's efforts to appeal to a younger demographic when he was terminated in October 2012 at age 69.

In its motion for summary judgment, NBC argued that Snepp's claims of age discrimination failed because he couldn’t prove he was performing competently in his position when he was fired. He also couldn’t establish he was replaced by someone significantly younger, the network said.

Judge Moloney said in his Friday ruling that NBC’s reliance on another age discrimination case, Hersant v. Dept. of Social Services, to make that point was misguided.

“Hersant expressly stated that it was unclear whether replacement by a younger person is a required element of the prima facie case,” Moloney wrote in his ruling. “Indeed, the prima facie case only requires circumstances that suggests discriminatory motive ... for which the analysis is whether otherwise similarly situated employees were treated more favorably.”

NBC claims Snepp was terminated for poor job performance, not for being too old.

Judge Moloney said while Snepp couldn’t establish pretext by “simply disputing the legitimate reasons” the network put forward for his firing, the journalist had presented sufficient evidence raising triable issues of fact on his claim that age was the real reason NBC dumped him.

Snepp, who was a chief intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, has decades of television news experience under his belt. He was hired by NBC in 2005 at the age of 61. One year later, he earned the prestigious Peabody Award for a four-part series that investigated environmental and safety hazards at the site of commercial-residential development in southwest Los Angeles.

According to Snepp's complaint, around 2009, NBC started focusing on its online content, and began marginalizing Snepp and other older employees. In August 2010, there was a change in leadership at the station: Vickie Burns, the new news director, frequently stated her desire to appeal to a young audience of 20-somethings, Snepp said.. Once, at a morning staff meeting, Snepp alleges that Burns turned to him and said, ‘Some people just see you as a grumpy old man who oughta just quit.'"

Burns also allegedly scolded another manager, NBC Platform Manager Todd Reed, after he put Snepp on air to provide commentary for the breaking story of Osama bin Laden’s death in May 2011.

"Mr. Reed believed he had been instructed to pull plaintiff because he was an old 'veteran' employee,” Snepp’s suit states. “Plaintiff and Mr. Reed agreed that older employees seemed to be losing out in the newsroom.”

Snepp's civil complaint says his experience with ageism was not unique. Throughout his employment, he made several complaints about the company's apparent age discrimination, including submitting a 150-page summary of his experiences to his superiors. Snapp's suit also claims he was retaliated against for speaking out about the age discrimination at the station.

That cause of action, however, was struck Friday by Judge Moloney, who agreed with NBC that Snepp failed to show a causal link between his complaints about age discrimination to the network’s human resources and legal departments and the news managers who fired him.

“Even if the Court considered Plaintiff’s ... self-assessment as protected activity, no evidence is presented to support knowledge by the decision makers of any protected activity asserted by Plaintiff,” Judge Moloney wrote.

Representatives for the parties could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Snepp is represented by Suzelle Smith and Ames Smith with Howarth & Smith.

NBC is represented by Janice P. Brown, Stacy L. Fode and Meagan E. Garland of Brown Law Group.

The case is Frank W. Snepp v. Comcast Corp. et al., case number BC523279, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

NBCUniversal Heading To Trial In Age Discrimination Case From Award-Winning Ex-KNBC Producer

By Dominic Patten
(Deadline)

It’s looking more and more certain that Frank Snepp is going to get the trial he wants against NBCUniversal and Comcast. A L.A. Superior Court Judge today refused the media giant’s best efforts to have the Emmy and Peabody-winning journalist’s nearly 2-year old age discrimination case thrown out. That means the November 2 jury trial start date is still on the calendar – and approaching probably too fast for Comcast.

The former CIA analyst first filed suit on October 1, 2013 claiming that he had been pink slipped from LA affiliate KNBC the year before due to his age. Hired by the station in 2005 at the age of 61 as an investigative reporter and producer, Snepp was canned on October 1, 2012. In his 2013 lawsuit, the then 70-year old journalist claims that the tone and leadership really changed at KNBC after Comcast announced its acquisition of NBCUniversal in late 2009.

Judge Stephen Moloney said in a motion for summary judgment hearing on Friday that Snepp had provided enough evidence that a “discriminatory motive” was a factor to be able to move forward to a wrongful termination trial. NBC claims Snepp was let go from KNBC because he was no good at his job. Which is a very odd thing to say about a guy who helped bring the very prestigious Peabody to the station soon after joining them in May 2005.

Snepp also alleged in his 2013 filing that he was punished for being “outspoken” and complaining about the treatment older employees were subjected to. “Plaintiff was replaced by investigative reporter(s) either under 40 or who were substantially younger than he,” said the complaint that also sought unspecified damages for retaliation as well as the claim of discrimination against Comcast, NBCUniversal, NBC News and NBC 4 (AKA KNBC). Snepp claimed that his direct supervisors knew of his complaints to human resources at KNBC and decided to finally fire him because of it. That part the judge wasn’t having and trimmed it from the case. “No evidence is presented to support knowledge by the decision makers of any protected activity asserted by Plaintiff,” said Judge Moloney’s ruling today.

Last August, Snepp filed a very similar second wrongful discrimination suit against basically the same parties. At the time, it looked like his first case might have come to a quick end. But that didn’t happen and it didn’t happen again today.

A protective order hearing is set in the matter on September 21 and then a Final Status conference on October 22. If they go to plan and Comcast and NBCU don’t make any more significant filing, there’s going to be a trial starting 11 days later. Of course, doubt KNBC will have their cameras in there filming the proceedings.

Ex-NBC Reporter Says He Was Fired For Being Too Old

By Alex Lawson
(Law360, New York)

Fired NBC News reporter Frank W. Snepp sued his former employer in California state court Tuesday, alleging he was terminated because of his age and because he had complained about discrimination against older workers at the company.

The complaint against NBC News, a unit of Comcast Corp., alleged that the journalist was the victim of a so-called youth movement taking hold at the network when he was terminated in October 2012 at age 69, a policy that Snepp took steps to curb while he was still employed.

“Plaintiff is informed and believes, and thereon alleges, that a substantial motivation for his termination was because of his age, as well as retaliation for his engagement in protected activity by complaining to management about age discrimination and ageism at NBC News,” the suit said.

Snepp was granted the prestigious Peabody Award in 2006 for his investigative work but was passed over for a critical promotion in favor of a younger and less qualified employee, the suit alleged.

Throughout his employment, Snepp made several complaints about the company's apparent age discrimination, including submitting a 150-page summary of his experiences at the network to his superiors. Snepp's experience with ageism was not unique, according to the complaint.

“Defendants know they have an issue with age discrimination and retaliation, but have done nothing to eradicate those issues, thus perpetuating and ratifying the unlawful discrimination,” the suit said.

After Snepp was let go by the network, the complaint said he was soon replaced by investigative reporters who were either under age 40 or “substantially younger” than Snepp.

Snepp's complaint seeks a jury trial and demands punitive and compensatory damages in an amount to be proven with evidence, along with attorneys' fees and expenses.

Ahead of bringing the suit, Snepp filed two separate administrative complaints with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging age discrimination.

Snepp's attorney, Joel W. Baruch, told Law360 that the company has faced several age discrimination lawsuits in recent years from its journalists and pointed to Snepp's efforts to reform the company's policies while he was still under employment there.

"Basically, they fired him, and I think that they fired him in retaliation for this," Baruch said. "They have a youth movement and that's what they want, but it's against the law."

In an e-mailed statement, a spokeswoman for NBC said the suit was "without merit."

Snepp began working for the network in 2005 and established himself with a feature series about methane gas hazards within a prominent California commercial-residential project and various other stories centered on public health concerns, according to the suit. Before his employment at NBC, Snepp served as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency during the Vietnam War.

Snepp is represented by Joel W. Baruch and Nikki Fermin of the Law Offices of Joel W. Baruch PC.

Counsel information for NBC was not immediately available.

The case is Frank W. Snepp v. Comcast Corp. et al., case number BC523279, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.