Jury Returns $400,000 Verdict Against For-Profit School For Terminating Whistleblower

August 29, 2013, 10:30AM. By LAS Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS - (Aug. 18, 2013) (Press Release)A Washington County, Minn. jury today returned a verdict in favor of Heidi Weber, who claimed in civil court that she was wrongfully terminated by her former employer, Woodbury, Minn.-based Globe University/Minnesota School of Business. The jury awarded Weber damages in excess of $400,000, including legal costs and compensation for past and future lost wages, benefits and emotional trauma, in finding that Globe University unjustly fired her for reporting on unethical and misleading practices by the school. Minneapolis-based law firm Halunen & Associates represented Weber as plaintiff in the lawsuit, which alleged violations of the Minnesota Whistleblower law.

Weber was fired from her job as Dean of the Medical Assistant Program by Globe University/Minnesota School of Business in April 2011. Previously, she had reported to upper management her concerns that the for-profit school was engaging in consumer fraud by making misleading statements to students about its job placement rates and failing to meet its commitment to place all qualified medical assistant program students in externship programs, according to court records. Rather than address her concerns constructively, Globe University officials chose to silence her by firing her, according to court records.

“It’s very gratifying when an employer is held accountable for the wrongful termination of an employee,” said Clayton Halunen, an attorney with Halunen & Associates. Halunen served as lead counsel during the trial, with Ross Stadheim, also of Halunen & Associates, serving as second chair.

The civil jury trial lasted nine days, including about one day of jury deliberations, and was heard in front of District Judge Thaddeus Jude.

The jury’s verdict affirmed her faith in both the American justice system and the desire by American people to see justice served, Weber said. “The truth is the truth,” she said in reference to how she believed the jury saw her case.

“All I ever wanted to do was make a difference,” Weber said in summing up her two-and-one-half-year “ordeal” to achieve justice. “Now I have my life back,” she said. She credited her lawyers from the Halunen law firm with being well-prepared and ardent in its presentation of her case. “We were strong and solid from day one,” she said.