If he had tried his plaintiff clients’ lawsuit in a Texas town with a less conservative reputation than Lubbock’s, Fernando Bustos suspects he could have tripled a $300,390 favorable jury verdict, which included $75,000 in punitive damages.

But given the geographical location of the federal court trial, Bustos, a partner in the Bustos Law Firm in Lubbock, remains “grateful” to the jury that awarded—in addition to the punitive damages—mental anguish damages to his clients.