McWane $16.6 Million Race Bias Judgment Cut To $8.5 Million

A $16.6 million race discrimination verdict against iron manufacturer McWane Inc. must be cut to $8.5 million because the punitive damages award was so excessive it violated due process, a California appeals court ruled Monday.

Rickey Moland alleged he was fired because of his race and called the N-word by co-workers..

The jury found that Moland wrongfully terminated Moland and that the company failed to prevent discrimination against him on the basis of race and awarded $2,873,514 in compensatory damages and $13.8 million in punitive damages. Moland’s attorneys called it “the single largest racial discrimination-based wrongful termination verdict in California ...