$50 Million Awarded in Case of Sex Harassment : Workplace: Jury sides with woman against Wal-Mart. The store chain says it will appeal.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was ordered to pay $50 million in punitive damages to a former employee after a jury found she was the victim of sexual harassment.

Pamela Kimzey, who worked in a Wal-Mart discount store in Warsaw, Mo., said her supervisor and other male employees made crude sexual remarks to her. She and two other women who still work at the store testified that other male employees pinched and kicked them.

A U.S. District Court jury deliberated for four hours Wednesday before ruling that Wal-Mart created a “hostile work environment” and that Kimzey, now 47, was driven to resign in 1993 as a result.

Besides the punitive damages, the jury awarded Kimzey $35,000 for humiliation and mental anguish and $1 for lost wages.

In a five-sentence news release, Wal-Mart said it will appeal. “The evidence does not support a finding of sexual harassment,” it said.

“In addition, we are shocked at the damages awarded,” the world’s biggest retailer said.

Ronald McMillin, an attorney for Kimzey, said she hadn’t sought a specific amount of punitive damages. But the sum had to be large to have an impact on Wal-Mart, he added.

“Punitive damages have to be geared to an individual defendant,” McMillin said. “In this case, it takes a little more to get their attention.”

McMillin said Kimzey’s supervisor, Bud Brewer, testified at trial that he had never received guidelines on sexual harassment from Wal-Mart. McMillin said Brewer has retired from the company, while the other male employees involved in the case still work at the store.