The Sacramento Bee reports that a jury in Kentucky has awarded $62.5 million in punitive damages, on top of $5 million in compensatory damages, to two former coal miners who sued 3M Co. for making allegedly defective respirators. The workers claimed they developed black lung disease because the respirators failed to function properly. 3M says it plans to appeal.
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Los Angeles jury awards $2 million in punitive damages to paralegal in retaliation case
MyNewsLA is reporting that a jury in Los Angeles superior court awarded nearly $2 million in punitive damages yesterday to a paralegal who alleged that she was fired for complaining about sexual harassment.
According to the story. plaintiff Soledad Albarracin worked for Fidelity National Financial. She claimed she was harassed by one of the company’s attorneys at a “team-building” retreat, and was fired for complaining. In the first phase of trial she won $250,000 in compensatory damages, and the jury tacked on $1.95 million in punitive damages in phase two.
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New Jersey jury awards $35 million in punitive damages in pelvic mesh case
Law 360 reports that a jury in a New Jersey state court lawsuit has awarded $35 million in punitive damages and $33 million in compensatory damages against C.R. Bard, Inc. The plaintiffs, husband and wife, claim the company’s pelvic mesh devices were defectively designed, causing debilitating pain to the wife, who had the devices implanted in 2009. New Jersey juries have been busy lately
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Johnson & Johnson hit for $80 million in punitive damages in New Jersey talc case
Reuters reports that a jury in New Jersey has awarded $80 million in punitive damages, on top of $37 million in compensatory damages, to a plaintiff who claimed he developed cancer as a result of exposure to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talc products.
Reuters says this is the first time Johnson & Johnson has lost a trial involving alleged asbestos contamination of its talc product. It won a similar case that went to trial last year in California.
The company has been hit with some big punitive damages awards in cases involving claims that talc itself causes ovarian cancer, but so far those awards have been tossed out during post-trial motions or on appeal.
Related posts:
Los Angeles trial court tosses $417 million talc verdict
Missouri appellate court reverses $62 million punitive damages award in talc case, finding no jurisdiction (Fox v. Johnson & Johnson)
L.A. jury awards $347 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson in talc case -
SCOTUS denies petition raising issues about punitive damages in mass torts (Crane Co. v. Poage)
The Supreme Court today denied the petition for certiorari in Poage, which asked the Court to the question of punitive damages overkill in mass tort cases.
Related posts:
Plaintiff opposes cert. petition raising “overkill” issue (Crane Co. v. Poage)
SCOTUS asked to address punitive damages “overkill” in mass tort cases (Crane Co. v. Poage)
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Fresno jury awards $12.4 million in punitive damages in medical malpractice case
The Fresno Bee reports that a local jury has awarded a total of $68 million ($55.6 million in compensatory damages and $12.4 million in punitive damages) in a medical malpractice case against a surgeon.
According to the story, the plaintiffs accused the doctor of leaving the operating room early to attend a luncheon, leaving a physician’s assistant to close a patient’s chest after open heart surgery. The patient suffered a large blood loss that caused him to go into a coma.
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California jury awards $18 million in punitive damages in police abuse case
The LA Times is reporting that a jury in federal district court has awarded $15.5 million in compensatory damages and $18 million in punitive damages to the parents of a 29-year-old man who was shot and killed by a San Bernardino County deputy sheriff.
UPI.com’s story on the verdict reports that the county is contemplating an appeal.
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Johnson & Johnson hit for $25 million in punitive damages in Indiana
Massdevice.com reports that a jury in Indiana awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson last week, in a product liability lawsuit involving pelvic mesh.
Johnson & Johnson is defending against punitive damages claims on multiple fronts, in cases involving pelvic mesh, hip implants, and talc products.
Related posts:
Los Angeles trial court tosses $417 million talc verdict
Missouri appellate court reverses $62 million punitive damages award in talc case, finding no jurisdiction (Fox v. Johnson & Johnson)
L.A. jury awards $347 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson in talc case
Johnson & Johnson gets hit again for punitive damages in Missouri talc litigation
Johnson & Johnson hit for $65 million in punitive damages in third big talc verdict
Johnson & Johnson hit with another big punitive damages award in Missouri over talc-based powder products
Johnson & Johnson vows to appeal $1 billion punitive damages award in hip implant case -
Court of Appeal reverses $46 million punitive damages award (Victaulic v. American Home Assurance)
In 2015 we reported on the verdict against AIG in this case, which included over $9 million in compensatory damages and $46 million in punitive damages. We noted that, if the Court of Appeal affirmed the punitive damages award, it would likely be the largest punitive damages award ever upheld in an insurance bad faith case in California. It would have been the third largest punitive damages award ever upheld in California, in any kind of case.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, Division Two) reversed the judgment due to prejudicial misconduct by the trial court. The Court of Appeal found, among other things, that the trial court acted improperly by aggressively questioning a witness and then arranging to have the witness invoke the Fifth Amendment in front of the jury, before any cross-examination by the defense.
Horvitz & Levy represented AIG on appeal. (Congratulations to my colleagues Peter Abrahams, Mitch Tilner, and Emily Cuatto.) Our practice is not to provide commentary on our own cases, so I won’t dig into the merits of this decision. But the case is worth a read for anyone handling a bad faith case with a punitive damages claim.
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Plaintiff opposes cert. petition raising “overkill” issue (Crane Co. v. Poage)
Last month we blogged about this pending cert. petition, which asks the Supreme Court to address (among other things) how the lower courts should deal with multiple lawsuits seeking punitive damages for the same tortious conduct.
This week, the plaintiff filed her opposition brief. It argues (among other things) that Missouri law protects defendants against multiple punishment, by allowing the defendant to request a credit against any punitive damages award for its potential liability in other cases. The plaintiff contends that the petitioner forfeited its right to raise this issue because it did not file a post-trial motion seeking such a credit, and did not raise the issue in the Missouri Court of Appeals.
We will continue to track the petition and report on the ruling.