Facts

Picketers from the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council (NCCRC) were protesting outside of R.D. Hughes Drywall on March 22, 2002, using signs depicting the company's owner, Roger Hughes, as a fat pig while wearing apparel that promoted the company's largest competitor. Hughes responded by going outside, retrieving a union jacket from his truck, and gesturing as if he was urinating on the jacket.

Aaron Hadzess, the field representative of the NCCRC , then instructed the picketers to convene at the union hall of Local 751. The union members then drafted statements that Hughes had exposed himself in public. Those statements were submitted to the Santa Rosa Police as part of a criminal complaint of indecent exposure. The Sonoma County District Attorney decided after reviewing the complaint not to arrest Hughes or file charges against him.

Hadzess got a controlled copy of the police report in May 2002. NCCRC Director of organizing Mike Munoz incorporated the report into a flyer in July 2002 after deleting indications that the police report had been redacted, as well as the "Do Not Duplicate" disclaimer on the original. Union members distributed the flyer by hand and by mail to residents, sales offices at subcontracting sites and construction businesses throughout Sonoma County.

Settlement Discussions

Hughes demanded $750,000. The defendants offered $50,000.

Damages

Hughes sought damages for past economic losses and pain and suffering of $742,000, as well as $342,000 for future pain and suffering. He also sought punitive damages of $3.5 million. The jury heard testimony from a union controller that the NCCRC had a net worth of nearly $44 million, including liquid assets of $36 million. California law limits a punitive damage award to 10 percent of a company's net worth. The defendants disputed that Hughes suffered economic damages. It based its contention on Hughes' inability to call any witnesses to corroborate that he was denied drywall jobs as a direct result of the flyer.

Injuries

Hughes claimed that the distribution of the flyers caused him to be inundated at work and at home by phone calls and that he had to hold meetings with associates, friends and clients to convince them that the information within the flyers was false. He asserted that the flyers caused him emotional distress and nightmare resulting in the need for psychological treatment. The defendants disputed Hughes's claim of psychological injury, arguing that his stress was the result of fair union activities.

Other Information

The jury found NCCRC liable for defamation in the first phase of trial, awarding Hughes $2,470 for past medical expenses, $22,500 for future pain and suffering and $75,000 for past pain and suffering. It did not award lost earnings. The jury then assessed $1 million in punitive damages, as well as $250,000 in exemplary damages for duplicating the report.

Poll

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