A federal appeals court in New York vacated a jury verdict in favor of a former UBS AG worker who claimed he was illegally fired in retaliation for protected whistle-blower activity.
The verdict in favor of former strategist Trevor Murray is invalid because the trial judge failed to inform the jury that a whistle-blower must prove his employer intentionally retaliated against him, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled Friday. The appeals court ordered a new trial.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires “a whistle-blower-employee like Murray to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the employer took the adverse employment action against the whistle-blower-employee with retaliatory intent,” the panel said.
Murray’s lawyer, Robert Herbst, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The case is Murray v. UBS Securities, 14-cv-00927, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.