LITIGATION BOUTIQUE


Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Legal Department
400 Perimeter Center Terraces, Suite 1000
Atlanta, GA 30346

Z & H Foods, Incorporated
Amin Dhanani
11855 Wilcrest Drive
Houston, TX 77031

 
LEGAL DEMAND

Re:      Firing of Marrisa Holcomb, manager at Houston area Popeyes located at 506 Sheldon Rd Channelview TX 77530, after she would not and could not reimburse money that was stolen by an armed robber at that location

To whom it may concern:

The Bozeman Law Firm has been retained by Marissa Holcomb to file an action against Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Z & H Foods, Incorporated. Even though you have offered to give the job back to her only to save face after experiencing bad publicity, the damage from your egregious conduct has been done and continues as long as her extreme financial hardship forces her to accept your offer. Offering her job back does serve to mitigate her damages from an employment wage perspective. But offering her job back does not cure the damage that has already been sustained due to your egregious, most outrageous conduct, conduct that has continuously caused great distress to Mrs. Holcomb during her employment with Popeyes for the past few years.

The Bozeman Law Firm has already begun conducting legal research in preparation for the action. Popeyes’s malevolent treatment of Mrs. Holcomb prior to the armed robbery incident indicates a much more sinister intent behind the callous firing of Ms. Holcomb (an incident that was already notoriously malicious) after she was victimized by an armed robber at the Houston area Popeyes where she worked.

When evaluating what has transpired, one must consider that Popeyes fired Mrs. Holcomb, while pregnant and caring for two additional children, after she did not reimburse Popeyes for the money that was stolen from the cash register by a criminal with a gun. Aside from the fact that she was in no position to reimburse the restaurant due to her own financial struggles, the idea that Popeyes demand that she reimburse the restaurant for money that was stolen, through no fault of her own, is obscene. This conduct shocks the conscience and illustrates that Popeyes not only had no regard for Mrs. Holcomb’s safety, but intentionally wanted her to suffer a terribly traumatic experience, that experience being one of getting fired after being robbed at gunpoint and fearing for her life. Virtually, every news station in the country has reported on the firing. There is a reason for this. This story has gained so much traction because your act of firing an employee, a pregnant mother of already existing children, for her failure to reimburse Popeyes for money stolen from the restaurant is simply unfathomable. Your act is disgusting and highly inflammatory. How awful would that have felt to have feared for your life as you are robbed at gun point, thinking you may actually die, only to have your place of employment fire you because you could not reimburse it for money stolen by an armed robber? So while you have offered her job back only after all the negative publicity you have received (Mrs. Holcomb has faced her perilous unemployment situation for almost a month), Mrs. Holcomb is more than entitled to compensation for her emotional distress and mental suffering. I experienced distress due to my anger, simply from having the incident explained to me. And I was many miles away from the actual robbery.

Furthermore, when Mrs. Holcomb sought to get clarification of the policy leading to her firing, multiple Popeye agents/officials reiterated that Mrs. Holcomb deserved to get fired for the money stolen out of the register. Popeyes points to policy that was broken. But Mrs. Holcomb never broke any policy. She emptied the cash register at the regular intervals that were required.

There are witnesses who can verify that she followed protocol. The robbery occurred on a Tuesday, Popeyes’s busiest day of the week for business because of the offered special. The amount of money in the register increased in a little over an hour because it was so busy. Yet, she was made to be the scape goat for the armed robbery, as if it was her fault that Popeyes was robbed due to insufficient security measures, like having the lobby of the restaurant close so late in a high crime area, a premises liability issue.

In addition, the area supervisor, Cynthia Watson (the same person who demanded Mrs. Holcomb reimburse Popeyes for cash robbed at gun point and then fired Mrs. Holcomb for not reimbursing the restaurant for the robbery) has repeatedly and intentionally made working at Popeyes a harrowing experience for Mrs. Holcomb during the course of Mrs. Holcomb’s employment with Popeyes. About a month before the robbery, Mrs. Holcomb called in to let the restaurant know that she would have to miss work to care for her sick son, who was hospitalized because of a medical condition. Inexplicably, Cynthia Watson suspended the pregnant mother of two children for a week without pay for the incident. Mrs. Holcomb had notified the parties that needed to be notified, but she was still suspended without pay for no apparent reason. And there are more incidents of malevolent conduct towards Mrs. Holcomb during the course of her employment at Popeyes. 

The major violation committed by your restaurant, Popeyes, is the Texas cause of action of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. The elements are as follows:

1) the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly
2) the conduct was extreme and outrageous
3) the acts of the defendant caused the plaintiff to suffer emotional distress:
4) and the emotional distress was severe.

The outrageous conduct by Popeyes is punishable by exemplary/punitive damages, in addition to compensatory damages. Because of the law of agency and the law of joint ventures, the conduct of the area supervisor, Cynthia Watson, and possibly other culpable parties is imputed onto Z & H Foods, Inc. and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen through vicarious liability. In addition, Section 41.008 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code has a provision that renders the cap and limitation calculation of exemplary damages inapplicable if certain facts are present in an action. Those required facts are present in this case. This means that if exemplary/punitive damages are awarded by a jury (they very well likely will be in this case), the sky is virtually the limit on what that jury could award because the usual legal limitations on exemplary damages have been removed. Therefore, given the outrageousness, maliciousness, and deceptiveness of your conduct, you could be made to pay dearly for your malevolent conduct by a jury.

This letter serves as notice of the demand and impending claims against you. If you fail to satisfy this demand, The Bozeman Law Firm will file suit on Marissa Holcomb’s behalf in a court of law to pursue all appropriate remedies and obtain compensation and exemplary/punitive damages to the fullest extent that the law allows.

Accordingly, demand is made that Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Z & H Foods, Incorporated agree to pay Marissa Holcomb a total of $5,500,000 to settle her claims against these parties. Payment must be made through The Bozeman Law Firm to ensure that no further legal action is necessary or proper.

This demand will remain open for thirty days from the date you receive this notice. If the demand is not satisfied within this time period, it will be deemed withdrawn and suit will be filed against you for the full measure of damages.

I urge you to reflect upon this demand, to consider it soberly and seriously, and to respond as quickly as you can.

Respectfully,

 
Marc Bozeman

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Nationally Reported Demand Letter