A federal jury in Miami is ordering Brink’s Inc. to pay a
former employee $8.2 million after it found the company
maliciously sought criminal charges against him.
Brink’s had accused Mario Martinez of slipping out of a
branch office with $350,000 in 1997. Martinez spent six
months in jail before another jury acquitted him despite
Brink’s assertions that their surveillance cameras caught
him in the act. According to the Palm Beach Post,
the jury found the video inconclusive and too choppy.
The civil jury found on Oct. 2 that the damage to Martinez’s reputation and mental anguish was worth $3 million, while also assessing $4 million in punitive damages against Brink’s and an additional $1.2 million for past and future lost wages. An attorney for Brink’s, Peter Walsh, says the company “feels it’s inappropriate to comment right now.”
