SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

A Santa Clara County jury on Friday slapped Stanford University with a $1 million judgment, finding that officials in the nanofabrication facility committed "outrageous" misconduct against a former researcher embroiled in a long-running employment dispute.

Ending a three-week trial in Superior Court, jurors sided with Robin King, a Half Moon Bay woman who alleged that Stanford tried to interfere with her efforts to get a job with a semiconductor company in retaliation for years of wrangling with electrical engineering department leaders over her gender discrimination claims.

The jury found that Stanford's mistreatment of King, which allegedly cost her a new job in 2001, warranted $625,000 in punitive damages, the bulk of the award against the university. The jury also ordered Stanford to pay $390,000 to King to compensate for losses she suffered after leaving Stanford, where she had worked for 20 years.

King was a technician in the nanofabrication center, which focuses on computer chip research. She said she has been unable to find a job since her relationship with Stanford soured.

"I'm very glad to get a verdict against Stanford because I've been through absolute hell," King said after the jury's decision.

Thomas Fenner, Stanford's deputy general counsel, said in a statement that the university is "deeply disappointed" in the verdict and is considering an appeal.

The crux of the trial centered on whether Stanford intentionally interfered with King's employment with the Santur Corp. after she left the university. The job with Santur relied upon King's ability to continue conducting research at the nanofabrication center, where her expertise was considered invaluable, according to her lawyers.

But Stanford placed a host of conditions on King, eventually barring her from the facility, according to court papers. King alleged that it was in direct retaliation for years of fighting with supervisors over her efforts to be protected in the workplace against an ex-boyfriend, a fellow researcher accused of once stabbing her and threatening her on the job.

As part of her original lawsuit, King claimed Stanford sided with the ex-boyfriend because she was a female employee, but a judge dismissed that claim earlier in the case. San Jose attorney Robert Bohn, who represented King, said the electrical engineering department had a grudge against King for raising concerns about a favored co-worker.

University lawyers, however, argue that Stanford tried to place reasonable restrictions on King for using the nanotechnology lab, including demanding that she take anger management courses.

Joe Sousa, the jury foreman, said the jury was in agreement that Stanford had wronged King, but was somewhat divided over the degree.

"It was wrong, but the question was how wrong it was," Sousa said of the deliberations.