- 11 - relief pursuant to title VII of the CRA of 1964, and the damages petitioner ultimately received were in settlement of her individual title VII claim under the 1964 legislation.9 The Settlement Agreement and General Release, which petitioner and State Farm entered into on January 30, 1992, also clearly provided that petitioner's settlement award represented backpay that petitioner would have received had she been hired as a State Farm agent, a 6-month award of front pay, and an "incentive cash" payment. No reference is made in the complaint or the settlement agreement to either compensatory or punitive damages. In any event, the 1991 amendments to title VII do not apply to this litigation, notwithstanding that petitioner's settlement agreement with State Farm was signed after the effective date of these amendments.10 In Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., 511 U.S. 244, 281-286 (1994), the Supreme Court held that the amendments to title VII providing for compensatory and punitive damages do not have retroactive application to cases which were pending on appeal when the statute was enacted. In the instant case, petitioner's own Final Claim Form indicates that the conduct which gave rise to petitioner's cause of action occurred between 9Indeed, the complaint in the Kraszewski litigation was titled "Complaint for Back Pay, Injunctive and Declaratory Relief (Civil Rights Class Action)". 10The effective date of the amendments was Nov. 21, 1991. See Civil Rights Act of 1991, sec. 402(a), 105 Stat. 1099.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
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