Tesla Inc. says says a retrial in a high-profile racial discrimination case should start from scratch with an ex-worker required to prove he was subject to abusive slurs at a company factory.
A lawyer for the company argued in a filing that it would be unfair and unconstitutional for the new jury in a case brought by former elevator operator Owen Diaz to be told that company wrongdoing has already been proven and only monetary damages need to be decided.
US District Judge William Orrick ordered a redo in June when Diaz refused to accept $15 million in damages after the judge slashed his original $137 million jury award, believed to be the largest ever in an individual US plaintiff’s case over racial bias.
Tesla has faced numerous complaints and lawsuits from former workers at its Fremont factory about racial discrimination and sexual harassment in recent years. The company is fighting a case by California’s civil rights agency alleging a widespread pattern of mistreatment of Black workers at the plant.
Tesla said in a late Friday court filing that Diaz hasn’t responded to its proposal to hold a full retrial over both liability and damages. The company said the two sides have met several times to talk about the scope of a new trial and have disagreed over what evidence should be allowed.
► Previous report: California accuses Tesla of alleged discrimination at plant
The company’s lawyer, Kathleen Sullivan, argued that any decision by a new jury over how much to compensate Diaz for emotional distress, as well as what amount of punitive damages is appropriate, will turn on how frequently he was subjected to slurs, how often he complained to managers and how they responded.
Because damages and liability are impossible to separate in this case, Tesla would suffer a “constitutional injustice” if it doesn’t get a chance to challenge the underlying evidence for Diaz’s hostile work environment claim, Sullivan wrote.
“Tesla’s problem is that there’s no such thing as a motion to change the facts,” Michael Rubin, an attorney for Diaz, said in an email. “The first jury’s $137 million verdict rested on extensive evidence that Tesla callously disregarded the pervasive racial harassment committed by its supervisors and others against Owen Diaz and other Black workers in Tesla’s Fremont factory, as the court already found in denying Tesla’s previous new trial motion.”
When Tesla challenged the original verdict, Orrick concluded there was ample “disturbing” evidence to support the outcome of the trial, but also determined the jury’s damages award was too high.
A hearing on the matter is set for Dec. 7.