On August 20, 2026, the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed a $7.2 million jury verdict ($9.4 million, with post-judgment interest and stipulated punitive damages) in favor of two women of color employed as attorneys in the general counsel’s office of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). The jury had found EBMUD and its former general counsel liable for wrongful retaliation under both state and federal law. The Ninth Circuit on appeal, like the district court in responding to the post-trial motions filed by EBMUD and its former general counsel, rejected each of those defendants’ challenges to the verdict, the damages award, and to the court’s evidentiary rulings.
A copy of the decision is available here.