Janice E. Hetzel v. Prince William County, Virginia, and Charlie T. Deane (523 U.S. 208)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 23, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 208 · 118 S. Ct. 1210
- Decided
- March 23, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. A jury in the Eastern District of Virginia found for petitioner Hetzel on her claims against respondent County of Prince William under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U. S. C. §2000e et seq., and Rev. Stat. §1979, 42 U. S. C. § 1983. The District Court reduced the damages from $750,000 to $500,000, on the grounds that one of the claims supporting the award was legally insufficient. On respondents’ appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, that court affirmed the finding of liability, but held that the damages award was grossly excessive because it was unsupported by the limited evidence of harm presented at trial. Hetzel v. County of Prince William, 89 F. 3d 169, cert. denied, 519 U. S. 1028 (1996). The court “set aside the damage award and remand[ed] the case to the district court for the recalculation of the award of damages for emotional distress.” 89 F. 3d, at 173. On remand, the District Court recalculated the damages and awarded petitioner $50,000. Petitioner filed a motion for a new trial in which she declined the award. She argued that in reducing her damages, the Court of Appeals in effect had offered her a remittitur, and that she was therefore entitled to a new trial under the Seventh Amendment’s guarantee of a right to trial by jury. Respondents agreed that the Court of Appeals’ decision functioned as a remittitur, but…
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