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Labor/Employment

May 13, 2026

Judge vacates $83M punitive damages award in Liberty Mutual age bias case

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge upheld a $20 million compensatory verdict for a former Liberty Mutual employee but struck down an $83 million punitive damages award, finding insufficient evidence of corporate malice.

Judge vacates $83M punitive damages award in Liberty Mutual age bias case
Blaine H. Evanson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has wiped out a record-breaking $83 million punitive damages award against Liberty Mutual Insurance Company while upholding a jury's $20 million compensatory verdict in a landmark age discrimination case that originally resulted in the largest such judgment in U.S. history.

Judge Jon R. Takasugi found that while substantial evidence supported the jury's findings of age discrimination and noneconomic damages, its punitive damages award had...

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