Your honor, ladies and gentleman of the jury, my name is Tripp Carrington, and along with my

co-counsel, Mary Compton, Allison Jackson/Mason Atwood Elliot Yarborough/Sophia Kozlik

represent the Plaintiff, Landry Lamar.

Since we are the plaintiff we have the burden of proof in this case. The burden of proof means
that we must produce evidence that will prove the claims that we have made against the
defendant. In this case our burden of proof is by a preponderance of the evidence. What this
means is that we must prove that it is more likely than not that the Defendant violated the
whistleblower statute. In our opening statement my co-counsel Ms. Compton stated that Landry
Lamar was fired for being a whistleblower. East Carolina code 8-27-20 states that no employer
may dismiss an employee because he files a report of wrongdoing. But that is exactly what
happened to my client, and we have shown you today through evidence. During Landry Lamars
employment with the defendant, Mr. Lamar observed and reported to the defendant what he
reasonably believed to be theft, fraud, and embezzlement by a coworker. Within one day after
Lamar blew the whistle on the unlawful conduct, Bobbie Garmon terminated Mr. Lamars
employment. Now the defense claimed that Mr. Lamar was fired for closing up the establishment
of Bobbies Burgers early. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, ask yourself this, why would my
client be fired for something that other employees do frequently? Today you heard testimony
from Sam Jackson who told you that Sloan Spencer has closed up early many times but has
never been fired or punished. You also heard that Sloan Spencer frequently breaks BBs
attendance policy without any consequences. This is because Sloan Spencer is Bobbie Garmons
golden child and gets special treatment. Sloan Spencer breaks the rules all the time, shows up
late, and misses work frequently. But when Mr. Lamar closes early just one time, then hes on
the chopping block? It doesn't make any sense.

The defense claims that Landry was fired because he closed early on the night of a
sportsmanship summit. But most sportsmanship summits are marked on the daily events
calendar, but this time it wasn't written anywhere! There was no way Landry could have known
there would be a sportsmanship summit that night. Bobbie Garmon should have told Landry,
instead of assuming that he knew. In the past, Bobbie was okay with Landry closing early, and
this time since there was nothing written on the daily events calendar, Landry reasonably
believed he could close early. I mean, other employees had done in the past.

The real reason why Landry was fired, was because he reported a wrongdoing. Bobbie Garmon
wanted to keep his golden child safe. When Landry went to talk to Bobbie about his concern,
Bobbie told him to keep his nose out of places it didn't belong. But it did belong. Landry was
reporting what he believed to be a wrongdoing, and he is protected by the whistleblower statute
for doing so. Don't let opposing council mislead you. They want you to believe that Landry was
fired for doing something that other employees had done in the past. The real reason he got fired
was because Bobbie Garmon was trying to protect his golden child and as a result he wronged
our client. We are here today to right that wrong and request that you find the defendant liable
for violating the whistleblower statute.
Thank you, honor.