Jury Awards Colorado Nurse $20 Million in Race Discrimination and Retaliation Suit
Jury Awards Colorado Nurse $20 Million in Race Discrimination and Retaliation Suit
Brett Whitley, Associate
On August 19, 2025, a jury returned a verdict awarding Donquenick Joppy (“Joppy”) $20,000,000.00 against HCA-Healthone LLC d/b/a the Medical Center of Aurora (“TMCA”) when the jury found TMCA liable for racial discrimination and retaliation in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (“Section 1981”), making it one of the largest awards in a racial discrimination case in recent years.[1]
Recap of Joppy
Joppy is an African American nurse that worked for TMCA in its intensive care unit (“ICU”) from 2017 to 2019. She received accolades and a positive performance review because of her satisfactory work. However, Joppy claimed that during her employment the nurses supervising her frequently demeaned her by screaming criticisms towards her on many occasions and isolating her professionally, which resulted in her being responsible for more patients than she could handle. Joppy regularly complained to her supervisors about this harassment, which she believed to be based on her race. Further, despite her satisfactory work, when Joppy attempted to transfer out of TMCA’s ICU, she was denied because she was put on a performance improvement plan (“PIP”) on the morning of her interview with the prospective position.
After Joppy was denied her requested transfer, an elderly patient (“Patient X”) came into the TMCA’s ICU with septic shock, multiorgan failure, and dozens of co-morbidities. Patient X was then placed on ventilation. A physician advised Patient X’s family that “this was a non-survival event,” so the family decided to move Patient X to palliative care. A few hours later, Patient X’s family instructed the physician to withdraw all care for Patient X and to remove Patient X from the ventilator. The physician then told a nurse to follow through with these instructions. However, this nurse instead told Joppy to follow the physician’s orders, so Joppy contacted the respiratory therapist to let him know about the need to remove the ventilator. Yet, the respiratory therapist instructed Joppy to turn the ventilator off and that he would assist later. Joppy followed the respiratory therapist’s instructions. Though Patient X still had a heartbeat after his ventilator was turned off, Patient X had “no drive to breathe.” Patient X was pronounced dead due to natural causes less than an hour after Joppy turned his ventilator off.
After these events, one of the nurses that Joppy claimed was racially abusive towards her voiced concerns about how the nurses, including Joppy, handled Patient X, specifically whether there were end-of-life orders given, despite Patient X’s medical chart detailing such orders being placed. Eventually, an investigation was launched into Joppy’s care of Patient X and Joppy was suspended pending the investigation. No other nurses who assisted in Patient X’s care were suspended. TMCA’s investigation concluded that Joppy suffocated Patient X due to her turning his ventilator off, despite the respiratory therapist and physician ordering this action and Patient X having no drive to breathe. Based on the investigation, TMCA terminated Joppy on June 4, 2019.
As a result of the investigation, Joppy was charged with Manslaughter, Negligent Death of an At-Risk Person, and Neglect of an At-Risk Person as a result of Patient X’s death. However, on September 21, 2021, Colorado dismissed all charges against Joppy “in the interest of justice.”
In April of 2022, Joppy initiated suit against TMCA and some of its employees, bringing causes of action (through her Third Amended Complaint) for racial discrimination and retaliation in violation of Section 1981 and malicious prosecution, resulting from her termination and the dropped charges. Joppy claimed entitlement to lost wages, promotional opportunities and other benefits, irreparable harm to her reputation and career, and emotional distress.
Section 1981 and the Verdict
Section 1981 prohibits racial discrimination in the making and enforcing of contracts. The statute defines “make and enforce contracts” to include “the making, performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship. Retaliation claims under Section 1981 arise when an individual suffers adverse action for opposing racial discrimination in contractual relationships. Importantly, there are no statutory caps on damages in Section 1981 actions, similar to the caps on compensatory damages under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[2]
Joppy’s case went to trial in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado and last week, the jury found that Joppy proved by a preponderance of the evidence that TMCA would not have terminated her but for her race and/or complaints about race discrimination. Consequently, the jury awarded Joppy $5,000,000.00 for past and present emotional distress, mental anguish, and damage to her reputation and $15,000,000.00 in punitive damages due to TMCA’s intentional discrimination and retaliation with malice.
Employer Considerations
The Joppy Case is a prime example of the extreme consequences employers could face if complaints of racial harassment are not adequately addressed and resolved and if there is not sufficient cause to terminate an employee. Specifically, the monetary consequences of such conduct are limitless when Section 1981 is used as the means to bring racial discrimination cases like Joppy’s. Campbell Litigation is available to assess complaints of racial discrimination in the workplace and review an employee’s actions to help employers determine whether there is sufficient cause to terminate employees.
[1] Joppy v. HCA-Healthone LLC, d/b/a the Medical Center of Aurora et al., Civil Action No.: 22-cv-00986-CNS-STV (D. Colo. Apr. 22, 2022).
[2] Title VII compensatory damages are capped based upon the number of employees a company employs, i.e., for employers with 500 employees, the damages are capped at $300,000.00. 42 U.S.C. § 1981a(b)(3)(D).