Former PR Executive's Wrongful Dismissal Suit Rejected

U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow has thrown out a wrongful dismissal suit brought by Douglas R. Dowie against his former employer, the public relations company Fleishman-Hillard. In court documents, Morrow wrote that "no reasonable jury could conclude that Fleishman-Hillard lacked good cause to terminate" Dowie, who was general manager of the company's Los Angeles office. In late March 2005 Dowie filed a lawsuit claiming that he had been made a scapegoat in the controversy over the overbilling of the Los Angeles Power and Water Department. In April 2005, Fleishman-Hillard agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the city of Los Angeles. Dowie, who was paid an annual salary of $370,000, was seeking lost wages and other damages.