Raymond v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
653 F. Supp 2d 151 (2009)

- Written by Craig Scheer, JD
Facts
In 1994, Robert Raymond (plaintiff) began working for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) (defendant) as its chief patent counsel. In October 2002, the month of his sixty-third birthday, Raymond was given the additional title of vice president. This was not accompanied by an increase in Raymond’s duties or responsibilities but was done because BIPI believed a vice-president title was necessary to attract an external successor for Raymond upon his retirement. In August 2003, BIPI hired Michael Morris as an in-house patent attorney. Morris initially reported to Raymond but gradually assumed Raymond’s duties and eventually reported to BIPI’s general counsel instead of Raymond. The other attorneys in BIPI’s patent department who previously reported to Raymond began reporting to Morris, who made all hiring decisions for the department in 2004, and in April 2004, BIPI’s general counsel referred to Morris as the de facto head of the department. In September 2004, nearing his sixty-fifth birthday, Raymond was told that BIPI had a mandatory age-65 retirement policy for executives. Over his objections that this policy was illegal, BIPI informed Raymond that his retirement would become effective on October 31, 2004, two days after his sixty-fifth birthday. Following his forced retirement, Raymond’s efforts to secure employment elsewhere—all of which were unsuccessful—mainly consisted of talking with a headhunter, passing out his business cards at two industry events, and sending his resume to about 12 law firms. Raymond eventually began working as an expert witness but did not pursue this work in earnest until 2008. In August 2006, Raymond sued BIPI, alleging, among other things, that BIPI’s enforcement of its mandatory retirement policy against him violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Bryant, J.)
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