The judge barred both sides from presenting new evidence or testimony at the retrial. But Diaz's lawyers on Tuesday said Tesla's legal team improperly questioned him and other witnesses about alleged incidents, which Diaz has denied took place, where he called a coworker a “dumb Mexican” and sexually harassed female employees, which did not come up in the 2021 trial.
"There is no other explanation for the extraordinary gap between the first and second jury's damages verdicts," his lawyers wrote.in the middle of the retrial. Tesla in a separate filing moved to lower the award to about $1.6 million, saying the jury's $3 million award of punitive damages meant to punish illegal conduct was too large in light of the $175,000 granted to Diaz for emotional distress. The U.S. Supreme Court has said punitive damages should be no more than nine times the amount of other damages.
Lawyers for Tesla and Diaz did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. A hearing on the motions is scheduled for July 19. In his 2017 lawsuit, Diaz had accused Tesla of failing to act when he repeatedly complained to managers that coworkers frequently used racist slurs and scrawled swastikas, racist caricatures and epithets on walls and work areas.The company has also denied wrongdoing inReporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Daniel WallisDan Wiessner reports on labor and employment and immigration law, including litigation and policy making. He can be reached at daniel.