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Clifton v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority9/30/2004
Suffolk.
October 20, 2003.
Anti-Discrimination Law, Race. Employment, Discrimination, Retaliation. Evidence, Rebuttal. Limitations, Statute of. Practice, Civil, Instructions to jury, Interlocutory Appeal, Report. Damages, Punitive. Interest. Judgment, Interest.
Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on May 17, 1995.
In 1995 Hiram Clifton brought an action in the Superior Court against the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) alleging that, because of his race, he was subjected to a hostile work environment, in violation of G. L. c. 151B, § 4(1), and was harassed in retaliation for his complaints about discriminatory acts directed at him, in violation of G. L. c. 151B, § 4(4). A jury returned a special verdict against the MBTA and awarded Clifton compensatory damages of $500,000 for emotional distress and $5 million in punitive damages.
The MBTA moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial, remittitur of the emotional distress and punitive damage awards, a hearing regarding jury bias, and to alter the judgment to eliminate any prejudgment or postjudgment interest. Clifton moved to alter the judgment to include prejudgment interest on the punitive damage portion of the award and for reasonable attorney's fees.
In a consolidated memorandum of decision and order on the posttrial motions, the judge allowed the MBTA's request for a remittitur of the punitive damage award, reducing it from $5 million to $500,000; its motion for a new trial as to punitive damages only if Clifton rejected the remittitur; and its motion to alter the judgment to vacate any prejudgment and postjudgment interest on the award for damages for emotional distress. The judge denied the MBTA's remaining posttrial motions. The judge also allowed Clifton's motion for attorney's fees, but denied his motion for an award of prejudgment interest on the punitive damages.
Upon Clifton's rejection of the remittitur of the punitive damage award, the judge filed a report to this court of "all matters decided in the Consolidated Memorandum of Decision and Order on Post-Trial motions, dated February 3, 2000, and all other matters decided on the issues of liability and damages during the course of the trial of this case." As his reason for doing so, the judge stated " ince this case involves difficult and important legal issues and since the new trial on the issue of punitive damages would be lengthy, this Court finds (and the parties agree) that the interests of justice are better served by having all relevant issues decided by the Appeals Court before the commencement of the trial on punitive damages."
Neither party has challenged the propriety of the report of the entire case including the postjudgment orders. Instead, each party has briefed the case as if the entire case were here on appeal. We, therefore, defer our discussion of the procedural posture of the appeal until after a discussion of the facts and substantive issues raised.
We recite the general background facts, reserving the details concerning the alleged discriminatory acts for our discussion of the particular issues.
The plaintiff, an African-American man, started working for the MBTA as a nighttime track laborer in 1983. He did maintenance work on the subway tracks with a group of approximately ten to twelve other employees. In 1984 he became a trackman at the MBTA's rail shop in Charlestown where he fabricated rails for installation on the MBTA lines. The supervisor in Charlestown was Robert Rooney, a Caucasian man. In 1986 the plaintiff was selected to be a line foreman by Rooney and the manager. He worked in this
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