In a unique ruling that safeguards against the plaintiff’s double-recovery in an employment discrimination case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit conditionally sustained a $250,000 damages award where the city of Syracuse retaliated against an officer who filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge against the city. However, the Second Circuit in Lore v. City of Syracuse, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 1954 (2d Cir. Feb. 2, 2012), held that other state-law claims that the district court improperly dismissed on summary judgment may have influenced the jury in awarding damages on plaintiff’s successful claims. This ruling requires the plaintiff make a tough choice on remand: to have a retrial on all claims, or forgo a trial on the state-law claims revived by the Second Circuit and accept the $250,000 damages award.

This ruling reminds us that the Second Circuit has authority to employ a safety-valve in reviewing verdicts and setting the parameters for remand. While the Second Circuit held that the damages award was not excessive, it expressed concern that it may have been tainted by claims that were not properly before the jury. For this reason, if the plaintiff wants to preserve her trial victory, she must withdraw her appeal from the district court’s order dismissing the state-law claims. Otherwise, all claims—including the successful ones that the Second Circuit sustained on appeal—are set for a retrial.

Background

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]