Pregnancy Discrimination Judgment Reversed.

A jury awarded $113,830 in compensatory damages for employment pregnancy discrimination. The trial court later awarded $1,157,411 in attorney fees. The employer requested, and the trial court refused to give, the following instruction:  “You may not find that [the employer] discriminated against [the plaintiff] based upon a belief that [the employer] made a wrong or unfair decision. Likewise, you cannot find liability for discrimination or retaliation if you find that [the employer] made an error in business judgment. Instead, [the employer] can only be liable to [the plaintiff] if the decisions made were motivated by discrimination or retaliation related to her being pregnant.”  The plaintiff requested, and the trial court gave, the following instruction: “A potential hazard to a fetus or an unborn child is not a defense to pregnancy discrimination.” The appellate court concluded there was prejudicial instructional error with the trial court’s decisions on the two instructions, and reversed the judgment. Veronese v. Lucasfilm LTD. (Cal. App. First Dist., Div. 2; December 10, 2012) (As Mod. December 28, 2012) 212 Cal.App.4th 1.