Plaintiff Sergio Romero was hired by Defendant Tribune Media Company (“Tribune”), a national media company that owns and operates various news outlets and television stations, as an Account Executive.
On or around June 21, 2023, Plaintiff was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma, also known as stomach cancer. To accommodate Plaintiff’s cancer diagnosis, Defendant authorized a medical leave of absence for Plaintiff on October 23, 2023. By February 28, 2024, Plaintiff’s approved FMLA/CFRA leave had been fully exhausted.
After accommodating Plaintiff’s absence since October 2023, Defendant notified Plaintiff by letter on June 14, 2024 that his employment would be terminated on July 1, 2024 for failure to return from exhausted leave, resulting in Plaintiff filing a wrongful termination suit.
Defendant filed a motion to exclude the testimony of Plaintiff’s expert witness George A. Jouganatos, Ph.D. while Plaintiff filed a motion to strike or exclude the testimony of Defendant’s expert June Hagen, Ph.D.
Economics Expert Witness
George A. Jouganatos, Ph.D. has been a college lecturer for more than 35 years. He has taught economics, finance, management, ethics, and quantitative analysis at University of California, Davis, University of California,
Santa Cruz, California State University, Sacramento, and University of San Francisco.
Vocational Rehabilitation Expert Witness
June Hagen is a vocational expert and Certified Disability Management Specialist with decades of experience in vocational assessments, labor market research, and disability evaluations. Hagen holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California Graduate Institute, an M.A. in Community/Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University. She is certified by the American Board of Vocational Experts and has extensive experience in vocational rehabilitation and disability management.
Discussion by the Court
A. Defendant’s Motion to Exclude Plaintiff’s Expert
Defendant argued that Jouganatos failed to submit a detailed and complete written expert report as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 as his report failed to contain the facts or data considered by Jouganatos in forming his opinions.
To begin with, Jouganatos submitted a declaration in which he described his background and qualifications. In relevant part, he stated that his “assignment was to analyze the historic (‘back pay’) economic loss and the present value of future (‘front pay’) economic loss for Sergio Romero.” Moreover, he stated that he “employed a standard forensic economic methodology consisting of: (1) establishing a baseline earnings stream, (2) projecting earnings over worklife expectancy, (3) accounting for benefits, (4) applying wage growth, and (5) discounting to present value using a risk-free rate.”
The following relevant documents were among those reviewed: Complaint, Romero’s employment record at Tribune, pay advices 2020-2024, resume, and responses to economist’s questionnaire and follow-up questions. Jouganatos calculated back pay as extending from July 1, 2024 to June 1, 2026, and front pay from June 1, 2026 going forward 3.58 years, the remainder of Plaintiff’s projected “worklife.”
Having reviewed Jouganatos’s report, the Court found it sufficient for the purposes of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B)(ii). The report did not reproduce the questionnaire or responses and follow-up questions upon which the expert expressly relied. However, the scope of what Jouganatos testified to is limited and is adequately supported by documents in Defendants’ possession or that were obtainable by Defendant.
B. Plaintiff’s Motion to Exclude Defendant’s Expert
Plaintiff moved to exclude the statement of Defendant’s expert witness, vocational rehabilitation expert June Hagen, Ph.D., that Plaintiff could have found work within 23 weeks of his termination. Plaintiff asserted that this testimony should not be permitted because Hagen’s expert witness report failed to identify any substantially comparable positions that were available in December 2024; (2) Hagen’s reliance on Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine Plaintiff could have found comparable employment within 23 weeks from his termination is not based on any facts or evidence of substantially comparable positions in the Sacramento area; and (3) none of the open positions identified in Hagen’s expert witness report met the standard for “substantially similar employment.”
Hagan’s report identified the documents she reviewed, which included deposition transcripts, court filings, and discovery responses. The report included a summary of Plaintiff’s personal, medical, educational, and work history, as well as his employment skills and history of compensation. The report included a timeline of Romero’s job search, which Hagen stated that she sourced from Plaintiff’s deposition.
As a result, Plaintiff did not identify any procedural defect in the disclosure of Hagen under Rule 26.
Held
- The Court denied Plaintiff’s motion to exclude the testimony of Defendant’s expert June Hagen.
- The Court denied Defendant’s motion to exclude the testimony of Plaintiff’s expert George Jouganatos.
Key Takeaway
The expert report must be complete such that opposing counsel is not forced to depose an expert in order to avoid ambush at trial; and moreover the report must be sufficiently complete so as to shorten or decrease the need for expert depositions and thus to conserve resources.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Romero V. Tribune Media Co. |
| Docket Number: | 2:24cv3143 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, California Eastern |
| Order Date: | April 23, 2026 |
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