Jury slaps Wal-Mart with $172M ruling

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http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/22/news/fortune500/wal-mart_damages/index.htm?cnn=yes

Jury slaps Wal-Mart with $172M ruling

A California jury orders the retail giant to pay $172 million to workers denied lunch breaks.

December 22, 2005: 7:43 PM EST


(CNN) - Jurors in Oakland, Calif., Thursday awarded $172 million to thousands of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees after deciding that the world's largest retailer violated state law by denying lunch breaks, a court spokesman said.

Jurors in Alameda County Superior Court awarded $57 million in actual damages and $115 in punitive damages in the class action lawsuit filed in 2001.

Jessica Grant, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, spoke to Reuters after the ruling. "What was compelling for the jury was that we put a lot of evidence before them of memos by Wal-Mart from seven years ago that concluded they had been breaking the law," said Grant.

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