An Alachua County judge denied motions by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) to conduct a new trial or lower the $15 million award given by a jury in a case of racial discrimination settled in February.
The denial came during a Tuesday hearing after Sheriff Chad Scott and ACSO’s legal counsel submitted motions that said the jury’s ruling and award amount were unsupported by competent evidence in the trial.
Attorney Wes Gay, representing ACSO, said no reasonable jury would agree with the claims of retaliation or discrimination. He said the jury was inflamed by passion and influenced by prejudiced evidence.
He called the $15 million award punitive and unsupported by the evidence of damages.
“Based solely on the relevant evidence that was specific to the plaintiff and not others that was put before the jury, no reasonable jury would have found intentional retaliation,” Gay said.
However, Judge Gloria Walker ruled that the jury did have sufficient evidence to reach their ruling. Walker denied the sheriff office’s motion that asked her to decide the case herself, throwing out the jury’s decision, and also denied the motion for a new trial.
In another motion, Gay and the sheriff’s office asked the court to reduce the $15 million award for emotional damage to $30,000. He also said the award of $115,724 for actual lost wages and future wages violated Florida law, which only allows a jury to award based on actual lost wages.
Gay argued that the discrimination case was a garden-variety employment case. He added that Davis presented no medical evidence of emotional damage, only personal testimony.
Gay called the award “grossly excessive” and more akin to a personal injury case where physical bodily harm is caused.
Attorney Brandon Vesely, counsel for Davis, rebutted the idea that the case represented a standard employment case. He pointed to 19 weeks of pseudo-house arrest, when Davis had to ask for permission to leave his home while the sheriff’s office conducted an internal investigation.
“This is not a case where the defendant merely chose one employee over another based on race,” Vesely said. “This is a case where they systematically abused the plaintiff for exercising his protected right to speak out.”
Vesely said the jury had the right to award the amount based on the evidence heard and their own personal histories. But Gay said Davis’ legal team invited the jury to go beyond a reasonable award by asking for such a high amount to begin with — $11 million. The jury didn’t just go with the recommended award but raised compensation for emotional damages by $4 million.
Walker declined to change the jury’s award of $15 million for emotional damages but sided with ACSO on the issue of future pay. Vesely and Davis’ legal team conceded that Florida law only allows actual lost wages and not future lost wages.
Walker reduced the $115,724 amount to only the lost wages of $16,457.
The sheriff’s office filed the motions in early May, along with an appeal to the First District Court of Appeals. However, that appeal is currently on hold pending final, written orders that settle the February trial.