Former Walmart truck driver falsely accused of fraud awarded $34.7 million by California jury

A former Walmart truck driver was awarded $34.7 million after a San Bernardino County jury determined that the company falsely accused him of fraud before firing him while he was on medical leave.

Jesus “Jesse” Fonseca worked as a truck driver for Walmart’s Apple Valley Distribution Center for 14 years before he was hurt on the job when another vehicle rear ended his truck on a highway, according to court documents shared by Fonseca’s attorneys. After Fonseca filed a workers’ compensation claim, the company accused him of fraud and fired him.

Fonseca sued Walmart for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate his disability, failure to engage in an interactive process, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination, all in violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act. He also accused the company of interference and retaliation in violation of the California Family Rights Act as well as hostile work environment harassment, wrongful termination, infliction of emotional distress and defamation.

“We believe the evidence at trial showed that Walmart’s defamation of Jesse was part of a broader scheme to use false accusations to force injured truckers back to work prematurely or, if not, terminate them so that Walmart can cut down workers’ compensation costs,” said David deRubertis, Fonseca’s lead trial attorney, in a statement. “Hopefully, this historic verdict will be the beginning of change from Bentonville.”

The jury awarded Fonseca $25 million in punitive damages and an additional $9.7 million verdict for future and past losses, including emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life.

Walmart officials said they’d take further action following the jury’s verdict.

“This outrageous verdict simply does not reflect the straightforward and uncontested facts of this case,” Walmart responded in a statement. “Accordingly, we will pursue all available remedies.”

After Fonseca was treated at a hospital for his injuries, he filed a workers’ compensation claim and was evaluated by a doctor every few weeks beginning in June 2017 to modify his work restrictions, the lawsuit said.

Fonseca’s work restrictions changed at times, but generally included that he couldn’t push, pull or lift more than five to 10 pounds or drive commercial vehicles. While the restrictions were communicated to Walmart leadership, they failed to accommodate Fonseca’s needs, his lawyers argued.

The day after the accident, Fonseca was placed on medical leave, and Walmart didn’t explore alternative tasks he could perform, the lawsuit said. Even though Fonseca requested he be allowed to do modified duties and asked if he could perform desk duty at an office position, but he wasn’t allowed to, the lawsuit said.

Before leaving, Fonseca told Walmart officials that he would be taking two family trips that were planned before the crash, his lawyers said. Fonseca’s doctors wrote restrictions at the time that included he wasn’t allowed to drive, bend or stoop. His lawyers allege Walmart hired a private investigator who documented Fonseca driving an RV and bending on multiple occasions while on family trips.

In January 2018, Walmart officials called Fonseca and questioned him for around 20 to 30 minutes regarding a report of fraud. They told Fonseca that they heard a report he had driven a vehicle despite restrictions stating that he couldn’t.

Fonseca told them he didn’t believe he did anything wrong as the restrictions prevented him from driving commercial vehicles, and he believed he could drive for personal reasons, the lawsuit said.

He hadn’t talked to anyone at Walmart about the reported fraud again, until an official called him in March 2018 and said Fonseca was accused of fraud and would be fired for “gross misconduct and integrity,” according to the lawsuit.

Fonseca tried to discuss his termination with Walmart’s vice president of transportation, who originally said he’d get back to Fonseca that day but later refused to speak with him because he was being represented by workers’ compensation counsel, the lawsuit said.

Months after his termination in November 2018, Fonseca applied to several jobs, but didn’t hear back after he had to disclose that he was fired from Walmart and suspected of committing fraud, according to the lawsuit.