THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110302
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
A judge has cut $1.5 million from the judgment awarded a former Navy aviator who charged she was sexually assaulted by her peers at the 1991 Tailhook Association convention.
A jury awarded Paula Coughlin $6.7 million in October after a seven-week trial.
But on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro ruled that the award should have taken into account a separate settlement Coughlin reached with the association.
The judgment was awarded against the Las Vegas Hilton, site of the 1991 Tailhook convention, and Hilton Hotel Corp. Coughlin claimed a lack of security at the Hilton led to her attack.
Navy and Marine aviators were accused of accosting more than 80 women at the convention. The Navy pursued 140 harassment cases but none led to a court-martial.
Coughlin also sued the San Diego-based association but settled with it for $400,000 shortly before the trial began.
Hotel lawyers argued that the settlement should be subtracted from the jury's compensatory damage award of $1.7 million.
Coughlin was assigned to Norfolk Naval Air Station until shortly before she resigned from the service on May 31. She began her military career by enrolling in ROTC while attending Old Dominion University in Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Coughlin
KEYWORDS: TAILHOOK SEXUAL HARASSMENT by CNB