Kleiner Case Judge Allows Ellen Pao’s Bid for Punitive Damages to Stand

Despite his initial misgivings, Judge Harold Kahn has ruled that Ellen Pao may
continue to seek punitive damages in a gender discrimination and retaliation suit against her former employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Kahn ruled on Saturday morning that if all the evidence were interpreted in Pao’s favor, “a reasonable juror could find … that Kleiner Perkins acted with malice, fraud or oppression” and “attempted to hide its illegal conduct by offering knowingly false and pre textual explanations for its decisions.” Given that possibility, Kahn denied the venture capital firm’s motion to rule out punitive damages.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.