Opinion ID: 203443
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Verdict and Appeal

Text: In submitting this case to the jury following a ten-day trial, the district court used a special verdict form that required the jury to make specific findings on the particular elements of each cause of action and separate damage awards for each claim on which it found liability. After finding liability as to all claims, the jury returned statutory damages of $14,910 for wrongful discharge, a $1,000,000 award for slander, a $3,000,000 award for libel, a $2,000,000 award for IIED, and a $1,000,000 award for Rosario on her derivative claim. In response to a motion for remittitur and judgment as a matter of law, the district court vacated the slander award, reduced the libel award to $1,800,000, and reduced the IIED award to $1,200,000. The district court did not reduce Rosario's $1,000,000 award, on the ground that FedEx did not argue that it should be remitted. FedEx appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence as to liability for IIED and libel, as well as the amount of the damage award, and asserting several other errors, including an evidentiary error in the admission of certain testimony regarding Soto's emotional distress damages. Soto cross-appeals, urging us to reinstate the slander award.