DECISION - IF YOU WERE THE JUDGE...

摘要

Yes, Patricia won her ADA lawsuit. A federal jury gave her $20,000 in compensatory damages, and she was also awarded $1,240 in back pay. Even worse for the company, an appeals court took another look at the case and decided Patricia might have a right to punitive damages, too. The appeals court ordered a new trial to decide any punitive damages, which could easily push the total bill into six figures. The company claimed Patricia was fired for lying on her job application. But the jury saw that as, at worst, an innocent mistake on her part. What got the company nailed was that Bernadette wrongly saw Patricia as disabled, and fired her on that basis, according to the jury. Bernadette's remarks about the risks of Patricia working in the kitchen and what clients would think proved that her main concern was Patricia's hepatitis, not the job application, the jury found.