A federal judge Thursday significantly cut down the lawsuit payout to ICTSI Oregon, the former operator of the Terminal 6 container ship terminal at the Port of Portland.
A jury last November found the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) engaged in unlawful labor practices at times between 2013 and 2017, causing damages to ICTSI.
The jury specifically had found that both ILWU and the Local 8, the local Portland chapter of the union, had engaged in “illegal secondary boycott activities,” according to court documents.
“As shown by the evidence presented at trial, ILWU engaged in work stoppages, slowdowns, ‘safety gimmicks’ and other coercive actions,” court documents state.
The jury awarded ICTSI $93.6 million in damages — 55% of the award was to be paid by the ILWU and the remaining 45% by the Local 8 — but federal judge Michael Simon ruled that amount should be reduced to just more than $19 million.
ICTSI has two weeks to decide whether to agree to that lower payout or seek a new trial that would only dictate the appropriate damages amount, according to Simon.
“The evidence does not support a damage award of $93.6 million,” Simon said in his opinion.
