A California jury has ordered Walmart to pay $34.7 million to a former truck driver for the company after finding that it had defamed him by falsely accusing him of workers’ compensation fraud.
The San Bernardino County Superior Court verdict was delivered after a two-phase trial that lasted four weeks.
On Tuesday, the jury awarded $9.7 million in compensatory damages for Jesus Fonseca’s lost wages, benefits, and reputational harm, as well as $25 million in punitive damages to penalize Walmart and deter similar actions in the future.
Fonseca, who worked for Walmart’s trucking division for 14 years, was terminated in 2018 following an internal investigation. His troubles began after he filed a workers’ compensation claim for injuries sustained in a rear-end collision while on the job. Fonseca had informed Walmart that he would be taking two pre-planned family vacations, one of which involved RV camping….