Opinion
No. 1971881.
RELEASED: June 9, 2000.
Appeal from Wilcox Circuit Court (CV-95-89).
Terry A. Sides of Robison Belser, P.A., Montgomery, for appellants.
William L. Utsey of Utsey, Christopher, Newton Utsey, Butler; J.L. Chestnut of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders Pettaway, Selma; and V. Wylynn, Gilmore-Phillippi of Gilmore Law Office, Grove Hill, for appellee.
The judgment is affirmed on the condition that the plaintiff accept a remittitur of punitive damages to the amount of $50,000.BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996); Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So.2d 218 (Ala. 1989). If the plaintiff does not file with this Court an acceptance of the remittitur within 28 days of the date this order is issued, then the judgment will be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
AFFIRMED CONDITIONALLY.
Hooper, C.J., and Maddox, Houston, Cook, Lyons, Brown, Johnstone, and England, JJ., concur.
See, J., concurs specially.
I concur in the order requiring a remittitur of the award of punitive damages to $50,000 in light of the nature of the plaintiff's action for retaliatory discharge and the remedial purposes of the retaliatory-discharge statute, Ala. Code 1975, § 25-5-11.1, see Twilley v. Daubert Coated Products, Inc., 536 So.2d 1364, 1367 (Ala. 1988); the apparent perjurious testimony involved; and the plaintiff's costs to prosecute her action through trial.