Illinois appellate court reverses trial court for reducing award from $1.75 million to $1.1 million
Lawlor v. North American Corp. of Illinois (Ill. App. Mar. 24, 2011)
Opinion by Justice Lavin
Plaintiff, a salesperson at a graphics company, resigned and accepted a position with a competitor. She sued the company for invasion of privacy after she learned that as part of an investigation into whether she had breached her fiduciary duty of loyalty, the company had hired an investigation firm which unlawfully obtained her personal telephone records. The jury awarded $65,000 in compensatory damages and $1.75 million in exemplary damages, remitted by the trial judge down to $650,000 (10-to-1 ratio).
On review, the intermediate appellate court held that the trial court had abused its discretion in disturbing the jury’s verdict, and reinstated it in full (holding in the process that the verdict did not violate federal due process).
Background: Northern Law Blog
Mitchell B. Katten, Nancy A. Temple, Joshua R. Diller for plaintiff.
Eric N. Macey, Steven J. Ciszewski and Julie Johnston-Ahien for Defendant.
Update: On further review, the Illinois Supreme Court cut the exemplary damages award to $65,000 (1-to-1 ratio) using the common-law remittitur, not federal due process. See here.