Today, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) told the San Francisco Superior Court that it opposed the efforts of former employee Ellen Pao to reduce the litigation costs that Kleiner says she owes after losing a gender discrimination case that she brought against the firm. The filing also noted that (PDF) since the jury’s decision was handed down, Pao has asked Kleiner Perkins for $ 2.7 million in post-trial fees and costs in exchange for not appealing her case.
In the aftermath of the jury trial, the two sides have been battling over terms to end the fight. The jury sided with Kleiner Perkins in March, deciding that Pao was not passed up on promotions because of her gender, and that Kleiner’s decision to fire Pao after she brought her lawsuit was not an act of retaliation. After the trial, Kleiner submitted a request for costs with a bottom line of just under $ 1 million, including over $ 800,000 in expert witness fees and $ 60,000 in deposition costs. Kleiner also noted that it had offered Pao a $ 964,502 settlement in November before the trail started. It offered to waive the request for costs if Pao agreed not to appeal her case.
Two weeks later, Pao’s attorneys fired back, calling Kleiner’s bill “grossly excessive and unreasonable.” They argued that a ruling made by the California Supreme Court in early May (PDF) prevented Kleiner from seeking reimbursement for its expert witness fees unless it could prove that Pao had acted with malicious intent in her dealings with Kleiner. Pao’s attorneys filed their notice of intent to appeal this week, but they have not yet set forth their official arguments for appeal.
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