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Court upholds sexual-harassment verdict against Watertown car dealership

The Supreme Judicial Court today rejected Lexus of Watertown's claim that a jury was wrong to award a female manager a settlement in a sexual-harassment suit because there was no evidence her work output suffered during months of unwanted, sexually explicit remarks and actions by her supervisor.

In a ruling today, the state's highest court said Emma Gyulakian more than adequately proved she was working for a man who refused to take no for an answer - and that his bosses knew about it but did nothing to stop him - over an 18-month period in which he often commented on her "nipples," "boobs" and "ass," touched her and asked her when they'd sleep together so he could get a good look at her breasts. The court noted:

Testimony at trial tended to show that members of senior management were aware of the sexually hostile or offensive work environment at the organization. By way of example, O'Connell (the Lexus general sales manager) witnessed Ferreira attempt to throw coins down Gyulakian's blouse; Gyulakian testified that she complained on several occasions to Bruno (the assistant general sales manager) concerning Ferreira's conduct; and Silvester, the former Lexus office manager, heard Ferreira discussing anal sex in the office.

Because of this, the court said the judge in the case was wrong to simply dismiss $500,000 in punitive damages - on top of $40,000 in actual damages - awarded by the jury without a hearing. The court sent the case back to the lower-court judge for a hearing to determine whether the the punitive-damage award was just or should be reduced.

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Comments

name is "Bruno".

Why does that not surprise me?

But, good for her, for hopefully getting a sizable settlement for putting up with that crap for 18 months. $540,000 seems about right to me.

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Genuinely curious how do you justify $540,000 as reasonable?

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should be large enough to make the business think twice before ignoring such egregious behavior again.

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Exactly my thoughts on the subject.

(There is always at least one poster who thinks punitive damages should be $2.50.)

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It is nowhere near enough, IMHO.

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just how much should she get? And, honestly, it is not skin off your noise, right or are you a friend of Mr. Bruno? Or, perhaps, you think a work colleague commenting for 18 months on colleague's nipples, boobs and ass, just to name one allegation, is really nothing the said plaintiff should get upset about?

(Oh, you might want to read up on the well researched studies on the negative affects of working in a hostile work environment on your mental and physical health before answering.)

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Punitive damages, by necessity, are unreasonable. If they were reasonable their purpose would be moot. Do I need to continue, or are you still confused?

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No.

All awards administered by our courts are supposed to be reasonable. In fact, Haddad vs. Walmart, the case that set the currently used standard for punitive damages for sex discrimination suits, specifically states that awarded damages are not to be excessive.

What is or isn't reasonable or excessive is up to interpretation though.

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Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?

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But if I ever want a Lexus, I know where Herb Chambers sells them. Beats this bunch of misogynist pigs.

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