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| Having lost a gender discrimination case against her employer, Ellen Pao may be on the hook for their legal costs. Image: Shutterstock |
Kleiner Perkins, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with
investments in Snapchat, Spotify, Uber, Twitter, and Google, filed legal
documents this past Wednesday seeking nearly $1 million in legal fees from its
former partner, Ellen Pao. Pao, fired
from the company is 2012, engaged in a lengthy legal battle in which she
accused her former employer of gender discrimination and retaliation. Since Pao lost the case, Kleiner Perkins is
requiring her to pay them $972,814.50…unless she promises not to appeal the
court’s decision.
“We believe that
women in technology would be best served by having all parties focus on making
progress on the issues of gender diversity outside of continued litigation,” said Kleiner Perkins spokeswoman Christina
Lee.
Kleiner also
revealed that they offered Pao a settlement of $1 million before the trial
began but never heard from her or her legal team.
Pao’s
spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal
that they are considering the proposal to waive legal fees and will respond
later.
Pao, who is now
the interim chief executive at Reddit, brought the case to the San Francisco
Superior Court, where she sought $16 million from the firm. Pao claimed that the company discriminated
against her because of her gender and fired her in May 2012 after she
complained and began the lawsuit. A jury
of six men and six women voted against her, and she was awarded nothing.
The trial
garnered a lot of attention in the Silicon Valley, with 200 spectators
attending Pao’s cross-examination during the trial.
The costs Pao
could be on the hook for include $864,680.25 for expert witnesses and
$58,878.69 for deposition costs. They do
not include the costs of the attorneys.
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