Law Commons^™

Damages For Mental Suffering In Discrimination Cases, John E. Duda

Cleveland State Law Review

This article explores the legal basis for an award of damages for mental suffering caused by unlawful racial discrimination. It necessarily includes religious and nationality discrimination,since these three areas are intertwined in the law. For the most part, the legal principles are applicable alike to all three forms of discrimination. Mental suffering is treated as an element of compensatory damages on the theory that the purpose of such an award is to compensate the claimant for his loss and not necessarily to penalize the discriminator. Punishment enters the analysis only to the extent that the prevailing legal rules governing damage …