$6 million non-economic damages is "shockingly excessive"

A man got fired by IBM, he sued claiming wrongful termination and retaliation, and a jury found in his favor.

The jury awarded him about $5 million in economic damages and $6 million in non-economic damages.

Applying Washington law, the 9th Circuit reversed the non-economic damages award, finding that $6 million was "shockingly excessive." Kingston v. IBM (9th Cir 08/01/2022 [PDF].

Quoting from some Washington court decisions, the court said the $6 million non-economic damages award is “so excessive as to strike mankind, at first blush, as being, beyond all measure, unreasonable and outrageous.”

The reasoning was this: "Although we do not question that Kingston suffered psychological distress because of his termination, his distress does not appear to have been significantly greater than what anyone might suffer from being fired. Based on the evidence presented at trial, $6 million is shockingly excessive. It also far exceeds the amounts that Washington courts have upheld in similar cases—so far as we have been able to determine, no Washington court has upheld an award of greater than $1.5 million in non-economic damages in a wrongful-termination case."

So, the case goes back to the district court for a reduction of the non-economic damages award "to an amount supported by the record and consistent with Washington law."