Former UPS driver’s $238 million jury award whittled away by legal rulings

Two years ago, a Spokane jury delivered a United Parcel Service driver from Yakima a life-changing decision. The jury awarded Tahvio Gratton nearly $238 million in mostly punitive damages against his former employer.

Despite that legal victory, Gratton appears to have been left with far less.

After the jury agreed in September 2024 with claims made by Gratton that he was discriminated against based on his race and was wrongfully terminated, attorneys turned to U.S. District Court Thomas Rice to overturn the jury award and approve a new trial.

First, Rice vacated the $198 million in punitive damages that the jury awarded. He then ordered a new trial.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Rice’s decision ordering a new trial, which meant that the $39.4 million the jury previously awarded for job loss and other damages went away, too.

At the end of May, both parties agreed to dismiss the case. While court records do not say whether the parties agreed to a dollar amount to end the case, an attorney for Gratton confirmed in an email that the case ended with a settlement.

“The case settled and that’s all we can say about it,” attorney Robin Shishido wrote.

The allegations

According to the original suit, filed in October 2022, Gratton, a Black man, claimed that the company subjected him to a “hostile work environment based on his race and in retaliation for engaging in protected activity” under state and federal law.

The lawsuit further alleged that Gratton suffered discrimination and was “retaliatorily denied job opportunities and assignments because of his race and protected activity,” the suit states.

Gratton, who began working for the company in 2016, eventually was fired from the delivery company on Oct. 19, 2021.

The trouble for Gratton began, attorneys wrote, in 2018 when he was transferred from the Seattle UPS center to Yakima.

As what’s known as a cover driver, Gratton was available to cover the delivery routes for other drivers who could not drive their routes. But, he continually was passed over for the work.

Gratton also did not receive pay for those days when he was available to drive per union rules.

After Gratton raised objections, UPS sent a manager to do a ride -along. The manager, who was white, “subjected him to racial harassment throughout the day by repeatedly referring to him as ‘Boy,’ among other disparaging remarks,” according to the suit.

Gratton filed complaints about the abuse, which extended to other Black drivers.

“White drivers received superior routes and workloads compared to black drivers and, like Mr. Gratton, other black drivers were criticized for ‘taking too long’ on their overloaded routes,” the suit states. “Indeed, witnesses heard supervisors make comments like ‘I wish we could just get rid of Tahvio (Mr. Gratton)’ and ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to not work him.’ ”

The trial

The Sept. 12, 2024, jury decision found that Gratton and his attorneys proved their case.

The jury ruled that Gratton had suffered retaliation in violation of federal and state law and that he had been wrongfully terminated.

It awarded Gratton $39.6 million for emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anxiety and other factors.

It then awarded the former driver $198 million in punitive damages after finding the UPS managers’ conduct to be “malicious, oppressive, or in reckless disregard of” Gratton’s rights.

But the trial did not end the legal fight.

Attorneys for UPS, who did not respond to messages seeking comment for this report, then appealed the punitive award of $198 million.

Judge Rice agreed with the arguments presented by UPS that the punitive damages were not based on the facts of the case and that the awards were excessive based on other case law.

“Given the evidence presented at trial, the Court does not find the jury’s decision related to punitive damages reasonable, and therefore” vacated the jury award for $198 million, Rice wrote on Nov. 14, 2024.

“The Court is thus left with the difficult task of determining how much the jury would have awarded absent the introduction of previously excluded evidence, and ultimately declines to wholesale supplant their judgment,” Rice continued.

“Rather than guess at what the award might have been absent testimony and statements offered in the presence of the jury the Court finds it necessary to grant a new trial.”

Gratton’s attorneys then appealed that decision to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which then made its ruling on Sept 23, 2025, upholding Rice’s decision.

The appellate judges noted that the attorneys for Gratton “introduced previously excluded evidence of harassment and racial discrimination, elicited improper testimony from key witnesses, and improperly introduced UPS’s financial status.”

The admission of those things during trial likely influenced the jury’s verdict “as the large damages award evidences,” they wrote.

The appellate judges also noted that the smaller jury award of $36.6 million for emotional distress was “outsized when compared to other awards for damages” in other wrongful termination cases.

“Looking at the ‘totality of circumstances’ and in light of the improper conduct, we cannot say that the district court clearly abused its discretion in granting a new trial,” the opinion states.

Facing those legal decisions, attorneys for both parties entered a stipulated order for dismissal with prejudice, which means that they both agreed to end the case without the possibility of it being revived.

That order, which does not indicate a settlement amount, finally ended the legal matter on May 26. It noted that both parties would pay for their own legal costs.

“Nothing in this stipulation shall be construed as an admission of liability by any party, nor shall it be construed to render either party the ‘prevailing party’ in the underlying litigation,” according to the court record.

Gratton could not be reached for comment.