Courtroom View Network reports that yesterday a Florida awarded a smoker’s family $300,000 in compensatory damages and $16 million in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds.  Plaintiffs’ counsel requested an award of $10 million, but the jury apparently thought that wasn’t enough. 

Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal published this opinion piece about last week’s verdict awarding $5 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages to a man who claims Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup caused him to develop cancer.

Disclosure: Horvitz & Levy represents Monsanto on appeal in another case involving Roundup.

Courtroom View Network reports that yesterday a Florida awarded a smoker’s family $300,000 in compensatory damages and $16 million in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds.  Plaintiffs’ counsel requested an award of $10 million, but the jury apparently thought that wasn’t enough.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that an arbitrator has awarded $179 million, including $128 million in punitive damages, against 21st Century Fox in a lawsuit over profits from the television show Bones.

The plaintiffs are the two stars of the show (Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz), the show’s executive producer (Barry Josephson) and the author whose works inspired the show (Kathy Reichs).  At the core of the dispute is the plaintiffs’ claim that Fox cheated them out of a share of the profits from the show by undercharging licensing fees to its sister companies, including Hulu, in which Fox had a 30 percent stake.

The plaintiffs have filed a petition to have the arbitration award confirmed by the California superior court.  Fox has hired Dan Petrocelli, who is no stranger to cases involving high-profile punitive damages awards, to oppose the petition.

A decade ago we expressed our view that the due process restrictions on excessive punitive damages should apply to arbitration awards, notwithstanding the limitations on judicial review of arbitration awards.  Division Eight of the Second Appellate District disagreed in Shahinian v. Cedars-Sinai.  Perhaps Fox will take another run at that issue in this case.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that an arbitrator has awarded $179 million, including $128 million in punitive damages, against 21st Century Fox in a lawsuit over profits from the television show Bones.

The plaintiffs are the two stars of the show (Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz), the show’s executive producer (Barry Josephson) and the author whose works inspired the show (Kathy Reichs).  At the core of the dispute is the plaintiffs’ claim that Fox cheated them out of a share of the profits from the show by undercharging licensing fees to its sister companies, including Hulu, in which Fox had a 30 percent stake.

The plaintiffs have filed a petition to have the arbitration award confirmed by the California superior court.  Fox has hired Dan Petrocelli, who is no stranger to cases involving high-profile punitive damages awards, to oppose the petition.

A decade ago we expressed our view that the due process restrictions on excessive punitive damages should apply to arbitration awards, notwithstanding the limitations on judicial review of arbitration awards.  Division Eight of the Second Appellate District disagreed in Shahinian v. Cedars-Sinai.  Perhaps Fox will take another run at that issue in this case.

Reuters reports on an Alabama verdict awarding $51.8 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to a man paralyzed in a 2015 rollover accident involving a Ford explorer.  This verdict comes roughly 25 years after another noteworthy punitive damages award by an Alabama jury against an automaker: the $4 million award against BMW that led to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in BMW v. Gore.

Reuters reports on an Alabama verdict awarding $51.8 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to a man paralyzed in a 2015 rollover accident involving a Ford explorer.  This verdict comes roughly 25 years after another noteworthy punitive damages award by an Alabama jury against an automaker: the $4 million award against BMW that led to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in BMW v. Gore.

Law 360 reports on the latest skirmish over punitive damages in the long-running Florida smoker litigation. 

After a jury awarded $6 million in compensatory damages and $21 million in punitive damages, the trial court vacated the punitive damages award because, although the plaintiff alleged fraudulent conduct, she presented no evidence of reliance on any of the alleged misinformation.  The Eleventh Circuit reversed, ruling that Florida law does not require smokers to prove reliance on any specific fraudulent statement.  So now Philip Morris is back in the district court, arguing that the punitive damages award is excessive.  Either way the court rules, the case is likely to end up back before the Eleventh Circuit.

Law 360 reports on the latest skirmish over punitive damages in the long-running Florida smoker litigation.

After a jury awarded $6 million in compensatory damages and $21 million in punitive damages, the trial court vacated the punitive damages award because, although the plaintiff alleged fraudulent conduct, she presented no evidence of reliance on any of the alleged misinformation.  The Eleventh Circuit reversed, ruling that Florida law does not require smokers to prove reliance on any specific fraudulent statement.  So now Philip Morris is back in the district court, arguing that the punitive damages award is excessive.  Either way the court rules, the case is likely to end up back before the Eleventh Circuit.

ABA Litigation News has this article about whether plaintiffs in legal malpractice actions can seek lost punitive damages, i.e., the punitive damages they claim they would have been awarded if not for the lawyer’s malpractice.  The California Supreme Court answered “no” to that question in Ferguson v. Lieff Cabraser, but the article notes that courts in other jurisdictions have disagreed.