The case stems from 2003, when escrow officer Carolyn Cortina filed suit on behalf of a class of workers, alleging misclassification as exempt employees. The trial court found that escrow officers earning roughly $4,000 monthly at the low end had been improperly classified and were owed overtime. Using statistical testimony, the court extrapolated average overtime hours from a sample group across the entire class, producing a verdict of approximately $15 million that was later adjusted to $43 million—an average recovery exceeding $57,000 per person.
The appellate reversal turns on procedure. By prohibiting North American Title from contesting the liability phase findings, the trial court prevented the company from challenging the statistical extrapolation methodology underlying the damages award. The appeals court determined this procedural barrier was reversible error.
Practitioners should note the ruling's implications for class action damages calculations. The decision signals that trial courts cannot insulate liability findings from appellate scrutiny by foreclosing defendant challenges at the damages phase. For defendants, the reversal demonstrates that procedural objections to statistical extrapolation methods warrant careful preservation. For plaintiffs' counsel, the case underscores that even substantial jury verdicts remain vulnerable if the trial record does not adequately support the statistical models used to scale individual claims across an entire class.