Fariba Moeinpour
Ms. Moeinpour’s ordeal began when she was transferred to a University of Alabama research lab led by Dr. Clinton Grubbs. Shortly after, she began to face relentless racial harassment from a colleague, Mary Jo Cagle. In her bid to report this abuse, her supervisor, Grubbs, went to unimaginable lengths to silence her: he called the police and physically attacked her. The terror didn't end there—Ms. Moeinpour was wrongfully arrested for domestic violence and spent 30 harrowing hours in jail. Though the charges were dismissed, she was diagnosed with PTSD and needed therapy to cope with the aftermath of her supervisor's retaliatory actions.
The jury in Moeinpour v. Board of Trustees of University of Alabama (UAB) and Mary Jo Cagle awarded her $3,000,000 for the pain and suffering she endured against UAB because of Grubbs' actions in attacking her and calling the police, resulting in her arrest and jail time. The message was clear: her struggles, her trauma, her fight for dignity mattered.
The jury's compensation was meant to start to heal her wounds—a recognition of the emotional and psychological toll she had endured. However, the Title VII damage cap stands to reduce her compensation to a mere $300,000, a fraction of what the jury deemed appropriate for her suffering.