In Lawless v. Town of Freetown, Plaintiff Diane Lawless (“Lawless”) brought suit against the Town of Freetown (“Freetown”), alleging it had breached a contract and violated her due process rights. After a nine-day trial, the jury awarded Lawless $75,000 for her breach of contract claim. On her due process claim, the jury found no compensatory damages but awarded $150,000 in nominal damages.
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts found that this nominal damage award could not stand and must be reduced to $1. The court explained that, while nominal damages can be more than $1, the amount must be “minimal,” and “even $500 is too great for nominal damages.”
The court also rejected Lawless’ request that the court recategorize the nominal damages award as a compensatory award. The court explained that, “[w]hile the jury likely sought to register its disapproval with Freetown by assigning a large nominal damages award, that award in no way suggests, however, that the jury found that Lawless had proven her claimed emotional distress damages . . . where the jury’s compensatory damages award here was clear, ‘recharacterizing’ the jury’s nominal damages award as compensatory damages would be a usurpation of the jury’s role and contrary to the Seventh Amendment.”
