Opinion ID: 324875
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other Assigned Errors

Text: 45 1. Statistical evidence. 46 Plaintiff alleges that the trial court erroneously admitted into evidence certain bar graphs showing the practices of Anaconda respecting the retention and termination of employees by age. His argument is that in a private civil action for individual discrimination rather than a class action, evidence of a general pattern of age discrimination or the absence of it is immaterial. We do not agree. McDonnell Douglas v. Green, supra, itself a wholly private action, specifically approves the use of such statistics. The plaintiff's arguments go mostly to the weight to be accorded them, an issue for the jury. 47 2. Damages. 48 The issue of damages was not submitted to the jury, but was, with the approval of counsel, decided in advance by the trial court. 7 While Laugesen agreed to this method of disposition of the damage issue, he objected at the time of trial to the amount of damages found by the trial court. Since the case is to be re-tried, the questions raised are properly before us for review. 49 Laugesen claims that it was error for the district court to have offset his lost wages by the amount he received as severance pay, claiming that this amount represents payment for past services. We hold that it was proper to set-off severance pay, if such amount represents payment occasioned by termination, which would not have otherwise been received by Laugesen had he not been terminated. While severance pay may be measured by length of past service, we view it as a payment occasioned by an involuntary termination. As such, it is an amount Laugesen would not have received but for the termination. If he is to recover and be returned to his original position, this amount should be deducted from his lost wages. See Shultz v. Hickok Mfg. Co., 358 F.Supp. 1208 (N.D.Ga.1973). We note that this amount is not claimed to be vacation pay, which has been held to be an amount earned and not occasioned by termination. Cf. Monroe v. Penn-Dixie Cement Corp., 335 F.Supp. 231 (N.D.Ga. 1971). 50 Laugesen also claims that it was error for the district court to have offset the amount he received for teaching and lecturing between the time of his discharge and the trial. Any remuneration that Laugesen received following his discharge should be set off from the damages only to the extent that it actually mitigated his losses. If Laugesen had received such sums during his employment at Anaconda, and could have been expected to continue to receive them, a set-off should be allowed only to the extent that the amount actually received exceeded that which Laugesen would have received had he been employed at Anaconda during the period in question. Only that amount may be set off as mitigation of damages. 51 Reversed and remanded for a new trial.