punitive damages

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Cable Company Must Pay $1B After Installer Killed Customer

Lawyers for victim's family believe the judgment won't be overturned on appeal

(Newser) - Update: It's still a massive sum, just not quite as massive. A Texas judge on Monday lowered the damages Charter must pay in connection with the murder of one of its customers to $1.15 billion. A Texas jury had set those damages at $7 billion in July after...

Guy Who Alleged Swastikas at Tesla Wins $137M

Owen Diaz said company created a hostile work environment

(Newser) - Tesla has been ordered to pay a whopping $137 million to a former contract employee who sued over racist abuse he endured at the company's factory in Fremont, Calif. Elevator operator Owen Diaz said he worked at the factory for about a year up to 2016, during which fellow...

After 'Tragedy of Errors,' Woman Awarded Millions

Carolyn Boerste had to have leg amputated after nurses left sponge in her

(Newser) - A woman whose leg was amputated six years after undergoing heart surgery was awarded $10.5 million by a jury last month, after what her lawyers say was a "tragedy of errors" by multiple medical personnel. "Everything has changed," Carolyn Boerste says, per WAVE , which along with...

Judge May Have Just Saved Monsanto $55M

Bayer still plans to appeal March verdict over Roundup's alleged link to cancer

(Newser) - Jurors awarded too much money to a man who claims Roundup weed killer gave him cancer, according to a federal judge. Judge Vince Chhabria on Monday reduced damages to be paid to Edwin Hardeman by Monsanto owner Bayer from $80 million to $25 million. Chhabria said $20 million in punitive...

Fox Scores a $128M Win After Suit From Bones Stars

Judge overturns punitive damages award

(Newser) - Earlier this year, a ruling was issued that the Los Angeles Times says "sent shock waves through the television industry": a nearly $180 million judgment payable to four plaintiffs—including stars Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz—involved with the Fox TV show Bones. The plaintiffs had hit Fox with...

Jury Awards $25M More in Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Case

Florida jury piles on punitive damages

(Newser) - Awarding Hulk Hogan $115 million apparently wasn't enough. A Florida jury added an extra $25 million in punitive damages on Monday against Gawker Media, its founder, and its former top editor, for posting excerpts of a sex tape featuring the former pro wrestler, USA Today reports. "Just...

Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay $21M in Molestation

Church kept member's history of abuse secret

(Newser) - A California jury says the Jehovah's Witnesses must shoulder part of the blame for the alleged molestation of a girl by one of its members. The jury's verdict orders the religious group to pay a record $21 million in punitive damages to the victim, now 26, reports MSNBC...

Great: Oil Spill Penalties Are a Tax Writeoff
Great: Oil Spill Penalties Are
a Tax Writeoff
opinion
Jul 1, 2010 12:51 PM CDT

Great: Oil Spill Penalties Are a Tax Writeoff

We need to make sure juries know and can adjust punishments

(Newser) - When juries award huge punitive damages against oil companies in the wake of a spill, they're often unaware of a simple fact: the companies can ease their own pain by deducting the damages on their federal income taxes, write two law professors in the New York Times . The Senate has...

Fla. Jury: Philip Morris Must Pay Ex-Smoker $300M

Tobacco company found negligent in state's largest verdict

(Newser) - A South Florida jury today ordered Philip Morris to pay $300 million to a former smoker, agreeing that the tobacco company's negligence was the cause of her emphysema. The award for Cindy Naugle, 61, is the largest to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies....

Freed Gitmo Detainee to Sue US for Damages

(Newser) - A Guantanamo inmate recently released to his native Afghanistan after almost 7 years of detention plans to sue the US for damages, the AP reports. Mohammed Jawad is considered one of the youngest prisoners held at the Cuban base—he claims he was 12 at the time he was captured,...

Comic's Mother-in-Law Sues Over Jokes

Sunda Croonquist's mother-in-law seeks damages for Jew jokes

(Newser) - The situation faced by comedian Sunda Croonquist sounds like it’s from one of her routines: mother-in-law sues comedian after being the butt of one too many jokes. But Croonquist’s mother-in-law is serious—she says her daughter-in-law makes her sound like a racist. She’s seeking unspecified damages and...

Music Industry Hunts for Cash in Pirate Bay Sale

Trade group wants its chunk of $7.8M acquisition

(Newser) - The music industry wants its money back from those copyright vigilantes at Pirate Bay, and now it sees a decent chance to get it, reports CNET. An industry trade group plans to go after the $3.6 million in damages awarded by a Swedish court now that a software company...

Big Dig Manslaughter Charge Dropped After $16M Deal

Company made epoxy whose failure resulted in death in Boston tunnel

(Newser) - The legal wrangling around a 2006 Boston tunnel collapse that killed one woman appears to finally be over, the Globe reports. In exchange for a $16 million fine, prosecutors have dropped manslaughter charges against Powers Fasteners, which manufactured a supposedly fast-setting epoxy that failed to support ceiling panels. Powers must...

Justices Strike Death Penalty for Child Rape

Top court also trims $2.5B Exxon Valdez damages to $500M

(Newser) - The Supreme Court found today that the “death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” striking down a Louisiana law as cruel and unusual punishment. While the court split 5-4 on the hot-button issue—swing justice Anthony Kennedy penned the opinion—there has...

Supreme Court to Hear $79M Cigarette Verdict for 3rd Time

Justices to decide if Oregon court ignored instruction to limit punitive damages

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a third appeal of Oregon’s $79.5-million punitive-damage award against Philip Morris. The justices have twice sent the verdict back to Oregon’s high court, part of an effort to limit punitive damages to nine times the size of compensatory damages. This...

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