On April 19 a federal court jury in Jackson rendered a $100,000 verdict for the plaintiff in Jackson-Hall v. Moss Point School District. Here is the verdict form.
Here is a Sun-Herald article on the verdict. According to the Sun-Herald report:
The Moss Point School District must pay a former principal $100,000 wages she lost after she was fired for refusing to have sex with her former school superintendent, an attorney said.
A Jackson federal jury on Thursday found the Moss Point School District was liable for sexual harassment against Tonya Jackson-Hill, who was principal of Kreole Elementary, said Nick Morris with the Louis H. Watson Jr. law firm.
During the trial, the district claimed Jackson-Hall was terminated for lying in an investigation regarding banking transactions, Morris said.
However, Jackson-Hall said former Superintendent Kim Staley made numerous sexual advances toward her and when she didn’t comply, he yelled, gave her bad evaluations and falsely accused her of lying during the investigation, Morris said.
It’s unclear why the case was in the Jackson division with Moss Point being in the Southern Division. From PACER, it looks like Plaintiff filed the Complaint in Hinds County Circuit Court and Defendant removed the case to federal court. The Complaint does not identify a specific reason that venue was proper in Hinds County.
Louis Watson, Jr. and Nick Norris of Jackson represented the plaintiff. Defense attorneys were Richard Garner, James Keith, John Hooks, Laura Rose and Lindsey Oswalt of Adams and Reese in Jackson.
Judge Dan Jordan presided in the case.