United States Ninth Circuit

In this Title VII sexual harassment case in which only nominal damages were awarded, the district court's judgment finding that a $300,000 punitive damages verdict comported with due process is affirmed, where: 1) 42 U.S.C. section 1981a imposes a $300,000 cap on compensatory and punitive damages in cases such as this, but the cap provides extremely limited potential for recovery and has not been changed or adjusted for inflation since its adoption in 1991; 2) because of the section 1981a limitations, and due to the circumstances of this case, including the fact that the jury awarded only nominal damages, the three guideposts of BMW of N. Am., Inc. v. Gore were not applied to the punitive award; and 3) the punitive award was made in conformance with section 1981a and was not otherwise in violation of due process.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/10/2014
• Published 12/10/2014

Judges

• Thomas

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel