On July 8, 1999, the Memphis and Little Rock offices of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit under Title VII against Kohler Company (doing business as Sterling Plumbing Group, Inc.) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The EEOC alleged that the defendants had violated the rights of the complainant by discriminating against him on the basis of his race and by retaliating against him when he complained of the alleged discrimination.

After attempts to settle the case failed, the parties went to trial on February 20, 2001. After 4 days at trial, the jury issued its verdict. The jury found that the defendants had not violated the complainant's rights by discriminating against him, but that the defendants had violated the complainant's rights by retaliating against him when he complained of discrimination. They awarded the complainant $40,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages, with interest at the rate of 6.052% until the money was paid. The jury also awarded the EEOC their litigation costs.

On March 12, 2001, the defendant filed in the district court a motion for judgment as a matter of law, or, in the alternative, motions for a new trial and for remittitur. On March 27, 2002, the district court granted the defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law, overturning the portion of the jury verdict that ruled for the plaintiff and finding that the defendants had not violated the complainant's rights by retaliating against him.

On May 28, 2002, the EEOC appealed the district court's decision to overturn the jury verdict. On September 22, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's issuance of judgment as a matter of law, reinstated the jury verdict, and remanded the case back to the district court to carry out the jury verdict. E.E.O.C. v. Kohler Co., 335 F.3d 766 (8th Cir. 2003).

Kristen Sagar - 03/17/2008


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