Kasper v. Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital

The plaintiff, Frank Kasper, was assistant director of security at a Chicago hospital. In January of 1993 the hospital fired him. He brought suit under the federal age discrimination law (he was 42 when he was fired), adding a supplemental claim under Illinois law in which he charged that he had been fired in retaliation for having filed a workers' compensation claim. The case was tried to a jury, which found for the hospital on the age discrimination claim but for Kasper on the claim of retaliation, awarding him $86,000 for lost wages to the date of trial, $400,000 for lost future wages, $150,000 for emotional distress, and $75,000 in punitive damages. The hospital contends on appeal that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law or at least to a new trial and that in any event the damages awarded were excessive. The case was close, but there was enough evidence of retaliation to allow the issue to go to the jury. Kasper had been employed by the hospital for 19 years, at first as a security guard, later as a sergeant of guards, and since 1983 as the assistant director of security, which made him the number two man in a staff of more than 20. The hospital is in a bad neighborhood, and Kasper had been injured several times in scuffles with unruly patients and visitors. He had been an exemplary employee and had received steady merit-based raises which by the time of his dismissal had brought his salary and benefits up to $43,000. The hospital was concerned about costs, and in March of 1992 Kasper's immediate superior, Mizia, recommended the elimination of the assistant director's position, but no action was taken on his recommendation.