Massive sexual assault verdict yields a new trial on liability

This case is a good example of how we trust juries, but we don't always trust juries, and some verdicts are going to be thrown out and we need a do-over because the jury did something wrong. The judge decided that the jury in this sexual assault case, which awarded $150 million to the plaintiff, overstepped the rules. The case will have to be re-tried.

The case is Doe v. Waltzer, 2024 WL 4216514, a ruling from Judge Block of the Eastern District of New York, issued on September 17. Plaintiff Jane Doe brought this case under New York's Child Victims Act, which revived civil claims predicated on Penal Code violations. Plaintiff claimed that her high school social studies teacher forcibly raped her in summer 2000, when she was 15 years old. She also claimed that, following the rape, the defendant continued to rape her for more than a year. Hence the large damages award.

Jurors are told that they have the final say on the case. But they do not know about post-trial motion practice and appeals, and the possibility that everyone, including the lawyers and the judge, will parse through the verdict for the next several years to see if the jury did anything wrong. I bet the jury has no idea that their verdict has been thrown out and there will be a retrial, unless the case settles. For now the plaintiff has filed a notice of appeal, though a round of motion practice has erupted in the Second Circuit as the defendant has moved to dismiss the appeal as premature.

Judge Block orders a new trial, not just on damages but on liability. This does not happen often. Usually, when the damages are too high, the trial court reduces the damages award but leaves the liability verdict in place. But the court can order a new trial on liability if it thinks the damages award is inherently indicative of the jury's passion or prejudice. This is a dramatic remedy, but I've seen it happen, and it even happened in a sexual harassment case that I am associated with.

Why did the judge do this? First, Judge Block held that $100 million in pain and suffering is far higher than other sexual misconduct cases, including when the plaintiff was significantly younger than the plaintiff in this case. The judge cites cases where the jury awarded $45 million and $15 million. Non-CVA sexual assault cases typically yield verdicts in the amount of several million dollars, including Carroll. v. Trump, which awarded $2 million against the next President of the United States. 

Remittitur, where the judge simply reduces the damages award, "is not possible under the circumstances." The judge finds that (1) the size of the damages award proves passion or prejudice by the jury, and (2) the jury most likely credited unsubstantiated allegations about the plaintiff's age (some of the evidence suggests she may have been 17 and not 15 based on the car that defendant was driving and the release date of a prominent movie that factored into the testimony).