Post by dinky on May 2, 2013 23:28:08 GMT 7
A US jury has awarded $US240 million ($232.54 million) to 32 mentally disabled men who suffered decades of abuse while working at a turkey processing company in Iowa.
Jurors in Davenport heard how the men had been kicked, verbally abused and denied toilet breaks by their employers from Henry's Turkey Service.
On Wednesday, they made history when the jury awarded them $US240 million - the largest verdict in the 48-year history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which sued on their behalf.
It's unlikely the now-defunct Henry's Turkey Service, of Goldthwaite, Texas, has anywhere near enough remaining assets to cover the $US7.5 million in damages each man was awarded. But federal officials vowed to recover every last cent they could for the men, who had been "virtually enslaved" for many years, according to developmental psychologist Sue Gant, who interviewed them at length for the EEOC.
"That discrimination caused them such irreparable harm, and the jury got that. They understood," said Gant, an expert on the care of people with intellectual disabilities.
"The amount of the award just appears to be overwhelming. I think it goes to the degree of injustice here."
A lawyer for Henry's didn't respond to a message seeking comment. But the company's president, Kenneth Henry, told the Quad-City Times after the trial that he planned to appeal, calling some of the evidence "terribly exaggerated."
"Do you think I can write a cheque for that?" Henry, 72, told the newspaper.
The jury determined that Henry's violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by creating a hostile environment and imposing discriminatory conditions of employment, and acted with "malice or reckless indifference" to their civil rights.
State officials told the court that the abuse was uncovered in 2009, when they received a tip about neglectful conditions at the bunkhouse from a sister of one of the men. They inspected the building, which is several kilometres from the West Liberty Foods turkey processing plant where they worked, and found it was falling apart, infested with rodents and full of fire hazards.
They found many of the men in need of immediate medical care, including one man who couldn't chew a waffle because of severe dental problems and another whose hands were infected from constant contact with turkey blood.
Social workers said the men described how the Henry's supervisors who oversaw their care forced them to work long hours to keep the processing line moving, denied them bathroom breaks, locked them in their rooms, and in one case, handcuffed one of them to a bed.
The EEOC says that by 2008, Henry's was being paid more than $US500,000 per year by West Liberty Foods, but was still paying the men the same $US65 per month that it always had.
The jury awarded each man $US5.5 million in damages for pain and suffering and $US2 million to punish the company for knowingly violating the law.
The EEOC will examine "all sources of moneys and tangible assets" that could be seized to pay toward the judgment, including more than 404 hectares of land in Texas worth up to $US4 million.
Jurors in Davenport heard how the men had been kicked, verbally abused and denied toilet breaks by their employers from Henry's Turkey Service.
On Wednesday, they made history when the jury awarded them $US240 million - the largest verdict in the 48-year history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which sued on their behalf.
It's unlikely the now-defunct Henry's Turkey Service, of Goldthwaite, Texas, has anywhere near enough remaining assets to cover the $US7.5 million in damages each man was awarded. But federal officials vowed to recover every last cent they could for the men, who had been "virtually enslaved" for many years, according to developmental psychologist Sue Gant, who interviewed them at length for the EEOC.
"That discrimination caused them such irreparable harm, and the jury got that. They understood," said Gant, an expert on the care of people with intellectual disabilities.
"The amount of the award just appears to be overwhelming. I think it goes to the degree of injustice here."
A lawyer for Henry's didn't respond to a message seeking comment. But the company's president, Kenneth Henry, told the Quad-City Times after the trial that he planned to appeal, calling some of the evidence "terribly exaggerated."
"Do you think I can write a cheque for that?" Henry, 72, told the newspaper.
The jury determined that Henry's violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by creating a hostile environment and imposing discriminatory conditions of employment, and acted with "malice or reckless indifference" to their civil rights.
State officials told the court that the abuse was uncovered in 2009, when they received a tip about neglectful conditions at the bunkhouse from a sister of one of the men. They inspected the building, which is several kilometres from the West Liberty Foods turkey processing plant where they worked, and found it was falling apart, infested with rodents and full of fire hazards.
They found many of the men in need of immediate medical care, including one man who couldn't chew a waffle because of severe dental problems and another whose hands were infected from constant contact with turkey blood.
Social workers said the men described how the Henry's supervisors who oversaw their care forced them to work long hours to keep the processing line moving, denied them bathroom breaks, locked them in their rooms, and in one case, handcuffed one of them to a bed.
The EEOC says that by 2008, Henry's was being paid more than $US500,000 per year by West Liberty Foods, but was still paying the men the same $US65 per month that it always had.
The jury awarded each man $US5.5 million in damages for pain and suffering and $US2 million to punish the company for knowingly violating the law.
The EEOC will examine "all sources of moneys and tangible assets" that could be seized to pay toward the judgment, including more than 404 hectares of land in Texas worth up to $US4 million.
