The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a U.S. Army veteran’s lawsuit alleging that Volvo fired her due to her military service and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leaving in place a Seventh Circuit decision that rejected a $7.8 million jury award in her favor.
Supreme Court’s Denial Leaves Seventh Circuit Ruling Intact
The justices denied LuzMaria Arroyo’s petition for certiorari, which she filed in August, arguing that the trial court wrongly set aside a 2016 jury verdict that had awarded her $2.6 million in compensatory damages and $5.2 million in punitive damages. Arroyo claimed her dismissal violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, the Seventh Circuit earlier this year upheld U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow’s decision to grant a new trial on her USERRA claim and overturn the ADA verdict, concluding that the jury’s initial award was driven by emotion rather than evidence.
Allegations of Military Bias and PTSD Discrimination
Arroyo, an Army veteran and reservist who took nearly 900 days of military leave over her six and a half years at a Volvo parts distribution center in Illinois, filed her original complaint in August 2012. She alleged that Volvo unlawfully terminated her in November 2011 due to her military service and a PTSD diagnosis acquired after multiple deployments to the Middle East. According to Arroyo, her supervisors frequently complained about her absences via email and subjected her to heightened scrutiny, allegedly to fabricate reasons for her termination.
