Steele v. Jensen Instrument Co.

Opinion

GRIGNON, J.

After the trial court granted a nonsuit motion as to the individual defendants and punitive damages, the jury awarded plaintiff $21,078 in her pregnancy discrimination action against defendant employer. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment in her favor. Plaintiff contends on appeal that the minimal damage award was the result of the following prejudicial judicial error: (1) nonsuit as to punitive damages; (2) gender bias; and (3)

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jury instructions. Plaintiff contends further that the trial court erred when it awarded costs of $35,461.96 to defendants. In the published portion of this opinion, we consider the interplay among three attorney’s fee and cost shifting statutes: Government Code section 12965, subdivision (b); Code of Civil Procedure section 1033, subdivision (a); and Code of Civil Procedure section 998, subdivision (c). We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion by failing to award plaintiff her costs and attorney’s fees under Government Code section 12965, subdivision (b) and in denying plaintiff costs under Code of Civil Procedure section 1033, subdivision (a). Accordingly, the $21,078 judgment obtained by plaintiff did not exceed the $40,000 Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer to compromise and the trial court properly awarded costs to defendants. In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we find no prejudicial judicial error. We affirm.

Procedural Background

On April 17,1995, plaintiff and appellant Loretta Steele filed a pregnancy discrimination complaint against defendants and respondents Jensen Instrument Company, Tim Campbell, and Frank Molinari (collectively Jensen) for violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) (Gov. Code § 12900 et seq.). Jensen answered the complaint on June 2, 1995. On December 20, 1995, Jensen made a statutory offer of compromise for $40,000.

Trial commenced May 15, 1996. After the presentation of Steele’s case, the trial court granted Jensen’s motion for nonsuit as to the individual defendants and punitive damages. The jury found for Steele and awarded her compensatory damages of $21,078. The trial court entered judgment on the verdict on May 22, 1996. The trial court denied Steele costs, did not award her attorney’s fees, and awarded Jensen costs of $35,461.96.