SAN FRANCISCO—Today, court is not in session for the high-profile gender discrimination case between reddit CEO Ellen Pao and her former employer, Kleiner Perkins. But after four weeks of testimony, this week will bring the culmination of all the courtroom sniping—closing arguments start Tuesday followed by jury deliberation and, hopefully, a verdict.
Pao is asking for $16 million in damages for lost wages. Late Friday night, the presiding judge ruled that Pao’s attorneys can also seek punitive damages from Kleiner Perkins, writing “There is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that Kleiner Perkins engaged in intentional gender discrimination by failing to promote Ms. Pao and terminating her employment and that Kleiner Perkins attempted to hide its illegal conduct by offering knowingly false and pretextual explanations for its decisions not to promote Ms. Pao and to terminate her employment.”
Still, the last time court was in session, Kleiner Perkins was finally allowed to call its own witnesses. The company chose from its coterie of Kleiner senior partners to toe the party line and discredit some of Pao’s arguments, trying to make one final memory for jurors.
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