Attorneys for the city of Fresno filed a motion for a new trial in the $15.4 million discrimination case the city lost in March, arguing the jury awarded excessive compensation to the plaintiffs.
Former employees of the code enforcement department, La-Kebbia “Kiki” Wilson and Charles Smith, brought the case in 2019, claiming racial discrimination and retaliation against other employees and higher-ranking administrators. A jury of four men and four women sided with Wilson for $15 million and Smith for $400,000 with a verdict on March 11.
In the request for a new trial, contract attorneys from Whitney, Thompson and Jeffcoach LLP argue the trial should never have exceeded $200,000 for Wilson, who is Black, and $50,000 for Smith, who is white. If the judge would not grant a new trial, the motion says, the request asks the judge to reduce the payout.
They argue the plaintiffs’ request of the jury at trial of an amount between $5 million and $20 million was not based on any evidence and relied on the jury’s emotions. The filing also argues the amount has no precedent in this sort of case.
“The jury verdict in this action greatly exceeds awards that case law has held excessive, despite more concrete proof of more severe emotional distress in those other cases,” the filing says.
The motion for the new trial argues the limited time in question makes the award excessive. The judge restricted the time to about two years and four months, including a year while Wilson was on paid administrative leave, the city’s attorneys argue.
Smith worked for the city for about three months, the attorneys noted.
While Wilson received a letter of reprimand and was investigated by an outside attorney as an employee, the city’s attorneys argue the “plaintiff did not present issue of any physical injury, medical condition or treatment.”
Wilson shared her emotional stress during testimony. The motion argues they did not rise to a $15 million verdict.
They went on to argue they believe the jury awarded such high damages to “punish the city,” which was against the jury instructions.
“Other rhetoric or tone used by plaintiff’s counsel encouraged the jury to smuggle punishment into its emotional distress award,” the motion says.
The plaintiff attorneys, Gary Goyette and Kevin Schwin, said they had attempted to go into mediation with the Fresno City Council after the verdict to come to a conclusion sooner. The council did not agree to it.
The attorneys said the verdict will begin to accrue interest at about $50,000 a month as the city did not reach a new settlement. They said the appeal process would likely last a year or longer.
Their comments came in the wake of Councilmember Miguel Arias saying publicly he believed the city should pay out, “learn from mistakes” and “take responsibility” for what happened to the ex-employees.
Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White said on March 30 the city would put itself in a bind by not appealing, saying the city could lose its insurance coverage.
Goyette and Schwin said the city leaders have been disingenuous in how much money they’ve spent on the case.
“This was not the first time the City Council had balked on an opportunity to settle this case for far less than this award is costing it,” they wrote in an April 1 statement. “Twice before this verdict was rendered, plaintiffs approached the city to settle this case and twice the city refused to make a serious offer.”
They said on the day of the verdict, the city had never offered more than $400,000 total for both plaintiffs. The city has not confirmed that number.
They also noted the city has not been forthcoming with the amount of legal fees they’ve paid in fighting the case for seven years. Goyette noted on Thursday the city’s team has added a new attorney to the case.
The city has twice, including as recently as Tuesday, denied Public Records Act requests from The Bee. The latest denial said the fees were protected under attorney-client privileges.
The hearing on the motion was set for June 15.
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Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.