Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Tennessee

Re: Racial Discrimination

Your question is one of the more difficult to answer in the realm of employment discrimination. Generally, a successful employment discrimination plaintiff will be entitled to recover his or her lost wages and benefits, reinstatement to his or her former position, damages for humiliation, embarrassment and loss of enjoyment of life and punitive damages. While it is relatively easy to compute the value of the lost wages and benefits (and reinstatement is similarly easy to value), there is absolutely no mathematical formula for valuing humiliation, embarrassment and loss of enjoyment of life. In my experience, values for this type of damage vary widely and are based typically upon either some amount per day or in relation to your actual out-of-pocket losses. By contrast, punitive damages can be measured based upon the amount of harm inflicted, the knowledge of the defendant that it was inflicting the harm and what it would take in terms of deterrence to prevent the defendant from doing this again.

Usually, the only way to even come close to valuing this type of claim is to go and meet with an attorney experienced in this area of the law. He or she can sit down with you, discuss the facts of your case and help you to assess some ranges for the value of your case. If you would like to consult with us in this regard, you can contact us at [email protected].