Court Upholds Slashing Of $30M Sex-Harassment Award

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) - Four women who won part of an unprecedented $30 million sexual harassment verdict against Ralphs Grocery Co. in connection with incidents almost 10 years ago at an Escondido supermarket will receive far less because of a state Supreme Court decision.

The court declined to review an appeals court decision that said in March that the punitive damages the jury awarded to the women were "constitutionally excessive."

The appeals court ruled that the four women, who stood to receive a combined total of $20 million out of the $30 million punitive damages verdict, would instead receive a combined total of about $1.5 million in punitive damages. By not reviewing the decision, the Supreme Court left the appeals court ruling in place and binding on the case.

Helene Wasserman, an attorney for Ralphs, said Wednesday no one is happy about being found liable for punitive damages, but the Ralphs case produced benchmarks for punitive damages in other cases and there was no reason for the state's highest court to review the appeals court ruling, which she described as "well-reasoned."

John W. Dalton, one of the attorneys for the women, said he and his clients were disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision, but that it shouldn't detract from the fact that Ralphs will still pay out $7 million in damages.

The dispute began in 1996, when six women alleged that supermarket management took no action to stop a store supervisor from sexually harassing and verbally abusing them.