(Reuters) – A federal judge said on Wednesday that Tesla Inc. was responsible for a Black elevator operator who said the electric car company ignored racist abuse at the factory where he worked, but reduced a jury prize of nearly $ 137 million to $ 15 million.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ruled after jurors in October last year found that Tesla exposed Owen Diaz to a hostile environment at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, by allowing and failing to stop the racism he encountered.
Diaz, who worked at the factory for nine months in 2015 and 2016, said other employees used racist slander when talking to him, scrawling swastikas and slander including the “N-word”
; on bathroom walls. He also said that a supervisor drew a racist caricature near his workstation.In a 43-page decision, Orrick said the evidence strongly supported the jury’s finding that Tesla was responsible for the “deep” emotional damage Diaz suffered and the “often inadequate” disciplinary action taken by the company.
But the judge reduced Diaz’s damages to $ 1.5 million from the “exorbitant” $ 6.9 million the jury awarded, and reduced the criminal damages to $ 13.5 million from the “constitutionally large” jury of $ 130 million.
Bernard Alexander, a lawyer for Mr. Diaz, said in an interview that his client plans to appeal the reduced damages.
“We are pleased that the court upheld the jury’s conclusion that Tesla’s conduct was absolutely reprehensible,” Alexander said.
“The $ 15 million allocation is significant but does not come close to reflecting the damage caused by Mr Diaz, or the reprehensibility of Tesla’s behavior,” he added.
Tesla and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company had tried to limit the compensation and punitive damages to $ 300,000 each.
Under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk, Tesla is facing similar claims in other lawsuits.
In one such case, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing claimed in February that black workers at the Fremont plant were subjected to constant harassment, but saw their complaints ignored.
Tesla has previously called that trial misguided and said it has adopted policies to prevent and punish racist behavior.
Compensation is intended to cover actual losses, while punitive damages are intended to punish and deter violations.
According to the United States’ highest court precedent, punitive damages should normally be less than 10 times the damages.
Legal experts had called Mr. Diaz’s original price of $ 137 million for one of the largest for a single plaintiff alleging discrimination in the workplace.
The case is Diaz v. Tesla Inc. et alUnited States District Court.
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