A Cincinnati-area jury said Total Quality Logistics must pay $22.5 million in damages after an employee suffering from pregnancy complications was not allowed to work from home despite a doctor’s order to do so and caused a premature birth that resulted in the baby’s death.
A Hamilton County jury of five women and three men found that TQL was negligent in the 2021 death of Magnolia Walsh. She gave birth at 20 weeks but died just hours after birth.
Total Quality Logistics is headquartered in Union Township.
The jury announced its verdict on March 18 after a seven-day trial before Common Pleas Judge Chris Wagner.
Mulan’s mother, Chelsea Walsh, suffered pregnancy complications that led her doctors to perform emergency surgery to maintain the pregnancy.
Doctor ordered changes to bed rest, work from home
Walsh’s doctor instructed her to take modified bed rest, work from home and limit her activities to protect her pregnancy.
Four days after the surgery on February 11, 2021, Walsh went to TQL’s office and asked to work from home in order to follow his doctor’s orders.
But Walsh’s request to work remotely was not approved. Instead, she was asked to return to the office and, at one point, placed on unpaid leave against her will.
During closing arguments, one of her attorneys, Brian Butler, said two doctors submitted letters on Walsh’s behalf. A second doctor said working from home was necessary “to prevent further complications in high-risk pregnancies due to increased activity in the workplace”.
Despite this, TQL declined Walsh’s request to work from home.
‘This is a heartbreaking case for a young family’
Walsh’s husband, Jacob, later spoke with an official in his employer’s human resources office about TQL’s decision. That person contacted a TQL vice president and said TQL had made a significant error in denying Walsh’s request, the lawsuit states.
On the morning of February 24, 2021, TQL informed Walsh that she would be allowed to work from home only at the request of a third party. But her lawyer said it was too late. Later that day, she developed complications and was taken to a local hospital, where she gave birth to Mulan.
“This is a heartbreaking case for a young family,” Matthew Metzger, an attorney representing the Walsh family, said in a statement. “The evidence showed that Chelsea Walsh followed her doctor’s instructions for a high-risk pregnancy and asked only to work from home. The jury found that TQL’s refusal of this reasonable request resulted in her daughter’s death.”
What is Total Quality Logistics?
TQL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Headquartered in Union Township, just outside Cincinnati, TQL is one of the largest freight brokerage companies in the United States. It arranges the transportation of goods for food producers, manufacturers and other customers. In addition, TQL Stadium, home of Major League Soccer team FC Cincinnati, is named after the company.
The company is Greater Cincinnati’s largest private company with 9,000 employees and more than $6 billion in revenue, according to the 2025 Deloitte Cincinnati Top 100 Private Companies list.
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati-area jury awards $22.5 million in wrongful death case against TQL
