Weaver v. African Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc.

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• upholding a 66:1 punitive damages to actual damages ratio in a case where a church elder grabbed a female reverend’s breasts and further evidence was introduced indicating that further physical and verbal harassment had occurred
• upholding award of $4 million where defendant’s grabbing of the victim’s breasts -14- “was merely the culmination of a long history of far worse verbal and physical sexual harassment . . . .”
• finding \premises\ requirement was met or established where church possessed building for an authorized church function and the church elder who committed sexual harassment was privileged to enter building only as the servant of the church
• \Such limitations serve to restrict the master's liability for a servant's purely personal conduct which has no relationship to the servant's employment and the master's ability to control the servant's conduct or prevent harm.\
• upholding 66:1 ratio of punitive damages to actual damages
• 66:1 ratio of punitive to compensatory damages upheld

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).