DFW Airport Settles Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

DFW Airport has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit by a former employee for $72,000.

During the January 6, 2022 DFW Airport Board meeting, the airport agreed to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit for $72,000. According to the meeting notes, “Under the mediated settlement, which is hereby submitted to the Board for approval, the Board would pay a total of $72,000.00 in exchange for dismissal of the suit with prejudice and a full release of all claims. Of the total settlement amount, $39,647.53 will be paid to the plaintiff (Christopher Prokopeas) and $32,352.47 will be paid to plaintiff's attorney.”

Prokopeas is a former employee who alleged wrongful termination on the basis of age, national origin, race and retaliation discrimination. So being somewhat curious, I looked things up. The case, Christopher Prokopeas v. DFW International Airport Board, Cause No. DC-20-11026, was filed in the 68th Judicial District Court, Dallas County.

You can read the various documents here: https://courtsportal.dallascounty.org/DALLASPROD/Home/WorkspaceMode?p=0

Prokopeas sought $1 million in damages. He alleged that he “In November 2018, Plaintiff began experiencing discrimination based 0n his age (52), race (Hispanic), and national origin (Greek) at the hands of the Vice President 0f Communications and Marketing, a Caucasian male in his late 30s 0r early 40s. 

The airport basically responded that it had done nothing wrong, and added that Prokopeas “was an at-will employee, as that term is defined under the common law of Texas, and that [DFW or Prokopeas] could terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason not specifically prohibited by state or federal law and with or without cause. “

There are loads of various legal documents, but it looks like the airport later requested a dismissal or summary judgement of the case, and has now settled “o avoid the additional time and expense of trying the case and future appeals.”

Anyway, its all somewhat interesting. Mr. Prokopeas ended up getting $39,647.53, meaning his attorneys took 45 percent of the settlement. So perhaps the lawyers were the only real winners in the matter.