A federal court lowered the damages judgment in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a Black former employee from over $137 million to $15 million on Wednesday.
After a jury concluded in October that Owen Diaz was exposed to racist insults and discrimination while working as an elevator operator at the electric vehicle company's Northern California facility between June 2015 and May 2016, US District Court Judge William Orrick announced his verdict. Diaz received $130 million in punitive damages and $6.9 million in emotional anguish compensation from the jury.
While "the weight of the evidence amply supports the jury's culpability determinations," Orrick concluded in his 43-page judgment (see below) that the jury's $130 million in punitive damages was "unconstitutionally high" and should be lowered to $13.5 million. He also called the jury's award of $6.9 million in compensatory damages "excessive," arguing that it should be lowered to $1.5 million, far more than Tesla had requested.
Diaz has 30 days to accept the lower sentence or seek a new trial, according to Orrick's decision.
Diaz's lawyer in the lawsuit said they were looking into their alternatives and didn't blame the court for the lower damages judgment.
"It's not the judge's fault," Larry Organ of the California Civil Rights Law Group said, adding that he was "heartened by the judge's factual findings and his evident scorn for Tesla's protestations."