More Damages in Spanking Case!

On Friday, the jury in the “spanking” case we discussed here and here awarded $1.2 million in punitive damages.

This is on top of $10,000 for economic loss, $40,000 for future medical costs and $450,000 for emotional distress, pain and suffering, says the LA Times.

A MySpace blogger adds this fact: “During the trial, company attorneys revealed that [the plaintiff] had sued a previous employer, also claiming that she had been sexually harassed.”

Wonder how much THAT case settled for — to whet her appetite for this one?

That blogger comments:

This lady got exactly what she wanted, a free ride for life at the expense of the company. I can understand the lost wages, but anything else is just crazy.

Well, I can’t even understand lost wages. Was she injured and unable to work? Was she constructively discharged by this one-time activity? Not under any definition of constructive discharge I’m aware of.

Another My Space-er says:

It could be my daddy issues talking but, for $1.7 million, I (along with pretty much everyone I know) would gladly be spanked like a naughty little kitten.

I do, however, draw the line at diapers [another aspect of the nutty "team-building" exercise that led to this case]. I will never understand that particular fetish.

UPDATE 1/18/08: Court Overturns $1.5M Spanking Verdict

[A] three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal overturned that verdict, ruling that the jury had been given improper instructions. In particular, the jury wasn’t instructed that one vital element of proving that sexual harassment occurred is showing the action was directed at a woman because of her gender.