$61 Million Award Becomes $12.4 Million - September 14, 2006

The presiding judge in the California discrimination case that resulted in a $61 million dollar jury award for two FedEx Ground Lebanese-American drivers reduced the amount to $12.4 million.

In a shocking quote, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Stephen Dombrink said, "The harassment was mostly just offensive name calling."  The jury heard of a FedEx manager calling law abiding Americans "terrorists" and worse because of their ethnicity yet the judge saw fit to minimize the harassment and lessen the punishment.

Hopefully FedEx and that manager will learn the proper lesson in all this.  And not the wrong lesson - like what one lawyer in the case is quoted as saying, "We look forward to having (the award) reduced even farther by the Court of Appeal."