The case in which a St. Louis jury awarded a former high school guidance counselor $6.14 million is ripe for remittitur, according to a local attorney.
“The school counselor I believe is going to have the verdict reduced,” said Universal City Attorney Sydney Chase. “That amount of money is awfully large for what happened.”
A remittitur is a procedural device in which defense lawyers motion a judge to order a new trial or lower the amount of money granted by a jury.
"Assuming everything is correct, you have retaliation from somebody who did not like the counselor,” Chase told the St. Louis Record. “It happens. It's actionable and it's a good case but $6 million is way out of line.”
The case involves Ron Spivey who sued after receiving bad reviews and being forced into a performance improvement plan (PIP) when ChanTam Trinh became vice principal of Soldan International Studies High School.
"It wasn't only gender discrimination," Chase said. "It was retaliation. That's what really gets to people is retaliation. The jury award may stand because the court may be mad enough to let it stand and the appellate court may let it stand. He was fired over this."
Prior to ChanTam Trinh becoming vice principal, Spivery largely received good reviews for 14 years straight, according to media reports.
Missouri Lawyers Media also reported that women co-workers at the school under ChanTam Trinh were not held to the same standard.
“If he got $2 or $2.5 million, that would be a fair verdict but the judge may have looked at Dr. Chan’s actions and decided this was bad so a remittitur might not happen,” Chase said in an interview. “If the man has been successful, and somebody new comes in and decides to put them on a PIP, a PIP is not to improve performance. It’s the first step to firing somebody.”
Ron Spivey v. St. Louis Public Schools and ChanTam Trinh was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court.
Spivey reportedly requested a transfer but it was denied and then he was terminated.
"Juries get mad, too," Chase added. "When Johnson and Johnson got hit for their baby powder, which supposedly causes cancer, that stayed as a billion dollar verdict. There are also $500 million Johnson & Johnson verdicts that have been reduced way down and some that have stayed. It all depends on the case and what the facts are."