DENIED

Woman Not Entitled to $366M FedEx Race Bias Verdict: Appeals Court

A federal appeals court ruled against a Black former FedEx sales manager on Thursday.

A woman who was awarded punitive damages to the sum of $365 million is not entitled to the money after a federal appeals court ruling on Thursday. According to Reuters, Jennifer Harris, a Black sales manager at FedEx, took the company to court in 2021, claiming it fired her after she accused her supervisor of race discrimination. A federal jury in Houston last year found that FedEx had illegally retaliated against Harris and awarded her a total of $366.16 million–an additional $1.16 million in compensatory damages on top of the punitive damages. On Thursday, however, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Harris was not entitled to the punitive damages portion of the jury’s award because FedEx “made good-faith efforts to comply with Title VII” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to Bloomberg Law. Her compensatory damages were also downgraded to $248,619 for emotional distress, Judge Cory Wilson said.