State of Arizona v. Asarco LLC

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
STATE OF ARIZONA; TERRY L.
GODDARD, Attorney General for the
State of Arizona; ARIZONA
DEPARTMENT OF LAW, Civil Rights
Division,
Plaintiffs - Appellees,
ANGELA AGUILAR,
Intervenor-Plaintiff -
Appellee,
v.
ASARCO LLC,
Defendant - Appellant.
No. 11-17484
D.C. No. 4:08-cv-00441-MWB
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Arizona
Mark W. Bennett, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted June 12, 2013
San Francisco, California
FILED
OCT 24 2013
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

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Before: O’SCANNLAIN and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and SINGLETON,
Senior District Judge. **
Appellant ASARCO challenges the district court’s decision in admitting
certain testimony and in awarding attorneys fees. We address ASARCO’s
challenge to the constitutionality of the punitive damages award in an opinion filed
concurrently with this memorandum disposition. The relevant facts are discussed
in that opinion. See Arizona v. ASARCO LLC, – F.3d — (9th Cir. 2013).
ASARCO challenges the district court’s admission of testimony related to
two other incidents of sexually explicit graffiti at the mill. The district court found
that this evidence was probative with regard to ASARCO’s failure to remedy
similar conduct affecting Aguilar and that this outweighed any prejudicial effect.
The authorities cited by ASARCO do not demonstrate clear error in that finding.
ASARCO also challenges the district court’s imposition of $350,902.75 in
attorneys fees. ASARCO argues that the district court clearly erred in determining
that Aguilar achieved excellent results. In light of Aguilar’s success in obtaining a
significant punitive damages award and the injunctive relief in Aguilar’s favor, this
finding was not clear error.
AFFIRMED.
** The Honorable James K. Singleton, Senior District Judge for the U.S.
District Court for the District of Alaska, sitting by designation.

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