L.A. Superior Court Judge WILLIAM MACLAUGHLIN yesterday voided the remaining $5M of a $7.1M jury award to former L.A. Times sports columnist T.J. SIMERS, ruling that he "was not entitled to any damages on his claims that the newspaper discriminated against him because of his age and a disability," according to Kim Christensen of the L.A. TIMES. MacLaughlin "amended a ruling he issued Monday" that cut $2.1M from damages jurors awarded to Simers for lost earnings. MacLaughlin yesterday also "struck all" $5M in damages for emotional distress. MacLaughlin on Monday ruled that there "was insufficient evidence to support Simers’ claim of constructive termination." Instead, the judge ruled Simers "had quit his $234,000-a-year job of his own accord." In his initial ruling, MacLaughlin said that there "was 'substantial evidence' to support Simers’ discrimination claims." But he did not "address the issue of the resulting damages." MacLaughlin yesterday amended the ruling to reflect that jurors had awarded $5M for emotional distress "based, to an unknown extent, on their erroneous conclusion that Simers had been forced out." Unless MacLaughlin’s ruling "is reversed on appeal, the constructive termination claim cannot be retried" (L.A. TIMES, 1/6).
