There was more explosive witness testimony at trial on Thursday, with a male Novartis sales representative asserting that his managers plotted to drive women out of the company. But when the judge realized the class's lawyers also represent the witness in a retaliation case against Novartis, she blew her stack.

Want to know why jurors awarded female sales reps at Novartis $250 million in punitive damages--the biggest award ever in a sex discrimination case--on Wednesday? All you have to do is read the closing argument Vedder Price gave for Novartis.

Employment class actions are supposed to depend on empirical proof of disparate treatment, not anecdotes. But when a case makes it to trial--and a witness testifies that her bosses blamed her for being sexually assaulted at a company event--are jurors really going to focus on statistics?