Opinion ID: 202202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Remitittur

Text: 81 Defendants argue that the damages awarded are duplicative and in any event excessive. 82 The Municipality argues that the compensatory damages award is duplicative in two senses: there is an overlap between the Title VII and Law 17 claims and, second, there is an overlap between the due process claim and the Title VII/Law 17 claims. In the Municipality's view, Valentín was awarded damages for the same basic harms — sexual harassment and eventual termination — multiple times, under different legal theories. 83 The Municipality concedes that to the extent damages are properly awarded under Law 17, they are subject to mandatory doubling. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 29, § 155j(1). As to any possible overlap in damages between or among the Title VII, Law 17, and due process claims, in this circuit, the primary mechanisms to avoid impermissible duplicate awards for damages are the jury instructions and the structure of the verdict form. To the extent that a jury award on both claims would be duplicative, the proper practice is to ensure that the verdict form is structured so as to allow the jury to recompense the plaintiff['s] injuries just once. Acevedo-Garcia v. Monroig, 351 F.3d 547, 569 (1st Cir.2003). Defendants should request instructions clearly directing the jury to compensate the plaintiff's injuries just once. Id. at 570. 84 Once again, this is a defense which was given away at trial. The Municipality concedes that it never objected at trial to the proposed verdict form or to the court's failure to charge the jury as to any possible overlap. Nor did it raise the argument after the jury returned the verdict and before the jury was discharged and the judgment was entered. In the post-trial motion seeking remitittur or a new trial, there was no argument as to duplication; the only argument raised was that the damages were simply excessive in light of the evidence. 85 The Municipality falls back, in its reply brief, on plain error review. See id.; Chestnut v. City of Lowell, 305 F.3d 18, 20 (1st Cir.2002) (en banc). But it still does not explain how the doctrine helps it. That argument is waived for lack of appellate development. See United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17 (1st Cir.1990). 86 We turn, then, to the claim that, aside from any possible duplication, the sums awarded were simply too great in light of the evidence. Even if we viewed the award as quite generous, that is not the test. The award will not be overturned unless it is grossly excessive or so high as to shock the conscience of this court. O'Rourke, 235 F.3d at 733. Further, [w]e accord broad discretion to the trial court's decision to affirm the jury's award of damages because of that court's greater familiarity with local community standards and with the witnesses' demeanor at the trial. Brown v. Freedman Baking Co., 810 F.2d 6, 11 (1st Cir.1987). 87 There was, to begin with, evidence of serious economic damages. Valentín was wrongfully deprived of her salary, both when she was driven by defendants' conduct to take disability leaves, and later when she was terminated outright. 21 Moreover, while she was out of work, she lost her house and her car, and she and her children were forced to move into an abandoned house. Cf. Acevedo-Garcia, 351 F.3d at 571 (jury may consider secondary economic injuries flowing from the plaintiffs' loss of earnings). Because of these damages and because of the harassment and threat of reprisals, Valentín suffered various forms of emotional damages and mental anguish, including, inter alia, insomnia, anxiety, guilt, and depression. The jury could believe this suffering was real and severe, based not only on Valentín's testimony that it was, but also on the fact of the nervous breakdown and the fact that she received extended psychological treatment from the SIF. See O'Rourke, 235 F.3d at 733-34 (upholding award based on similar emotional distress, and collecting cases). There was ample evidence that it was defendants' own continued and varied misconduct which caused the harms suffered by Valentín. The award was not excessive. 88 Cruz adds his own argument that even if he harassed Valentín, it was only from August of 2000 to November of 2000, or at most to February of 2001, and she did not suffer any financial damages or adequately proven emotional distress during this time. The argument ignores both the ample evidence of emotional damages during that very period and the fact that the evidence supported a conclusion that Cruz instigated and participated in later harassment and retaliation. More fundamentally, Cruz' artificial time limit is based on the mistaken legal premise that a defendant is not liable for damages which flow from his own actions in violation of law and are reasonably foreseeable. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 29, § 155j(1) (person responsible for harassment is liable for the damages that the action has caused,  plus mandatory doubling) (emphasis added).