Kleiner Perkins Aims to Recover Almost $1 Million in Costs in Pao Case

Silicon Valley powerhouse venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers aims to recover about $973,000 in costs for defending itself against charges of gender discrimination, according to a court filing on Thursday.

In March, a jury cleared Kleiner Perkins of claims it short-circuited the career of former partner Ellen Pao because she is a woman in a trial closely watched in Silicon Valley.

Kleiner’s costs request includes about $865,000 in expert witness fees. In a statement, Kleiner spokeswoman Christina Lee said the venture capital firm has offered to waive its legal costs should Pao choose not to appeal.

“We believe that women in technology would be best served by having all parties focus on making progress on the issues of gender diversity outside of continued litigation,” Lee said.

Pao has not yet indicated whether she will appeal the outcome of the case. One of her attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.

Pao, now interim chief executive at social-news service Reddit, claimed her standing at Kleiner Perkins crumbled after she ended a brief affair with a partner. Her career deteriorated after he and Kleiner Perkins started retaliating against her in a climate that was overall unfriendly toward women, her lawyers argued.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Jim Christie; editing by Andrew Hay and David Gregorio)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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