Hon. Thomas Neal Thrasher (Ret.), the recently retired Orange County Superior Court sole designated mediation jurist, combines four decades of judicial and legal experience with his unique ability to bring about the successful resolution of complex, multi-party matters. Judge Thrasher has tried numerous civil cases and in the past three years as mediator for the court, has mediated and settled hundreds more. He has earned a reputation for bringing parties together in extremely difficult situations and getting them to reach consensus.
Judge Thrasher created the mediation program in the Orange County Superior Court in January 2002 and was its sole mediator. He has conducted more than 1,000 mediations including numerous employment cases involving a wide variety of matters including wrongful termination, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and retaliatory termination. Representative Matters
- Arbitrated a sexual harassment/wrongful termination 5-day case involving multiple motions, including motion for summary judgment which settled one week before hearing
- Mediated numerous disability discrimination and failure to accommodate cases
- Numerous hostile workplace cases involving sexual harassment, and racial, age, and gender discrimination
- Several claims of retaliatory termination of employees following sexual harassment
- Successfully mediated a multi-day wage and hour claim by seven employees who had opted out of a class action lawsuit
- Various wage, vacation, overtime, meal, and contract disputes
- Wrongful termination claim by administrative assistant of college, similar claim by administrative assistant of government program
- Wrongful termination of the CEO and stockholder of a mid-sized corporation
