Bloomberg Ending a three-year legal battle that came to symbolize Silicon Valley’s painful issues of sexism, Ellen Pao said on Thursday that she has agreed not to appeal the trial loss to her former employer, venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Pao said she will drop her appeal and pay Kleiner’s court costs of $276,000, as set by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn in June. However, Pao said she didn’t agree to a settlement that would prevent her from discussing the case.
“We tried to settle, and they wanted me to be silent on issues that were important to me,” Pao said in an interview. “The biggest impact of the litigation has already happened. The deck is stacked against plaintiffs from a legal perspective and financial perspective.”
In a statement issued on Thursday, Pao said she cannot afford more costs to continue fighting a firm with “tremendous financial resources and massive legal and PR armies.” She declined to disclose how much the lawsuit and trial have cost her. Kleiner had sought $1 million in legal costs.
“We are glad to put this trial behind us,” Kleiner said on Thursday. “There is no question diversity in the workplace is an important issue. KPCB remains committed to supporting women and minorities in venture capital and technology.”
An extended version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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