Torres v. B/E Aerospace, Inc. CA2/4
Defendant B/E Aerospace, Inc. (B/E Aerospace) appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff Blanca Torres (Torres) in her action for employment discrimination. Torres’s operative first amended complaint went to trial on her claims against B/E Aerospace for discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (Gov. Code, § 12940, et seq.) based on age and gender, and wrongful termination in violation of public policy. The evidence at trial showed that B/E Aerospace terminated Torres in what it claimed was a reduction in force (elimination of her position), but the jury accepted Torres’s contention that B/E Aerospace’s reasons were a pretext for improper discriminatory motives. The jury awarded Torres a total of $1.516 million in compensatory damages and $7 million in punitive damages. The trial court granted B/E Aerospace’s motion for a new trial conditioned on the reduction of punitive damages to $1 million. Torres consented to the re
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