A judge in a high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit will allow a former partner at venture firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers to seek punitive damages, adding to the potential pricetag for the firm if it loses the case. In his ruling Saturday, San Francisco-based Judge Harold Kahn wrote that former Kleiner partner Ellen Pao could ask a jury for punitive damages, which could run into the tens of millions of dollars or more. First, however, she must convince the jury that the firm engaged in intentional gender discrimination and retaliation, and that the firm acted with malice.