Opinion ID: 200973
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Spencer Press's Challenge to the Punitive Damages Award

Text: 32 Spencer Press argues that the jury did not have sufficient evidence to award punitive damages because Halasz was not acting in a managerial capacity during the course of Johnson's employment. Kolstad v. Am. Dental Ass'n, 527 U.S. 526, 545-46, 119 S.Ct. 2118, 144 L.Ed.2d 494 (1999). Spencer Press admits that the jury rationally could have rejected its affirmative defense to an award of punitive damages that it had exercised reasonable care to avoid harassment and to eliminate it when it might occur. Id. at 545, 119 S.Ct. 2118. 33 The availability of punitive damages is not a live issue. The jury awarded Johnson $400,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages. Acting pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3)(D) and Me.Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 5, § 4613(2)(B)(8)(e)(iv), both of which cap the sum of punitive and compensatory damages for employers with over 500 employees, the district court entered judgment for Johnson for $300,000. 6 Because the compensatory damages award was itself greater than the statutory cap, the award would have been the same regardless of whether the jury awarded any punitive damages. See Quint v. A.E. Staley Mfg. Co., 172 F.3d 1, 14 (1st Cir.1999) (declining to address whether a compensatory damages award was excessive because the award of punitive damages exceeded the statutory cap); Hogan v. Bangor & Aroostook R.R. Co., 61 F.3d 1034, 1037 (1st Cir.1995) (avoiding the issue of punitive damages because the jury's award of compensatory damages was the same as the statutory cap). 34