$1.64 Million Judgment for Former General Counsel Denied Oral Severance Pay

In 2005, Andrew Hawes accepted a position as general counsel for Western Pacific Timber, LLC, after the company's owner promised him a specific severance arrangement: $100,000 for each year he remained employed, capped at five years, for a maximum of $500,000. The agreement was oral. No signed contract memorialized the terms.

Hawes stayed with the company for more than a decade. When Western Pacific Timber terminated him in 2017, management refused to pay the promised severance. Hawes retained Hepworth Holzer and filed suit in Ada County's Fourth District Court, arguing the oral promise was binding and that the company's refusal to pay constituted a wage violation under Idaho law.

The defense contested whether any enforceable agreement existed, pointing to the absence of a written contract and the lengthy gap between the initial promise and the termination. Hepworth Holzer presented evidence of the original terms and Hawes's reliance on them throughout his tenure.

The jury found in Hawes's favor and awarded $500,000 in damages. Under Idaho Code section 45-615(2), which allows trebling of damages in wage-collection disputes, the district court multiplied the award to $1,500,000. With prejudgment interest added, the total judgment came to $1,639,726.80.

Western Pacific Timber appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court, challenging the verdict and the treble-damages award. On December 18, 2020, the court affirmed the district court's judgment in full, leaving the $1,639,726.80 award intact.