Vested Interest - Tort Briefs - June 1999 Issue

Infant Heart Surgery Victim Secures $15 Million Verdict

Beating Victim Settles for $290,000

Richard Joy Clay bought two packs of cigarettes at a Safeway store in California and then headed for his car. On the way, two security guards confronted him, accused him of stealing the cigarettes, threw him to the ground and beat him, breaking five ribs, before handcuffing him and dragging him back into the store. Only then did the cashier intervene, telling the guards they had made a mistake. Safeway and Monument Security have settled for $290,000; criminal charges are still pending against the guards. (AP, May 20, 1999)

National Rifle Association Liable for $4.5 Verdict

Sally Brodbeck, a National Rifle Association board member, attended the group’s national convention in Philadelphia last year with her husband, Kenneth. While Kenneth was taping her speech to the convention, a security guard asked him to put the camera away, and tackled him when he refused. The Brodbeck’s claimed that the organization staged the assault in an effort to discredit their opposition to the group’s leadership. A federal jury issued a verdict for $4.5 million, finding that the NRA was guilty of public disparagement and battery. (AP, May 14, 1999)

New York City Handed $5 Million Verdict in Strip Search Case

A class action lawsuit against New York City claims that more than 60,000 people were strip searched after being arrested for minor offenses, in violation of department policy and state law. After one lawsuit on behalf of one victim returned a verdict of $19,600 in compensatories and $5 million in punitives, the City entered settlement talks. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani asserted that the City would not pay more than $25,000 to settle the case, the same figure paid to four other victims. Similar payments to each of the 60,000 class action victims would result in a $1.2 billion settlement. Talks are on-going. (AP, May 12, 1999)

Another Alabama Verdict Triggers Another Round of Tort Criticisms

Salespeople for Whirlpool, Corp., sold $199 satellite dishes door-to-door in rural Alabama for $1,100, and charged 22% interest on top of their five-and-a-half-fold markup. Then they set up a payment schedule that took four-and-a-half years to pay off, even though they promised buyers that the loan would be paid off in three years. A jury, confronted with these facts, returned a verdict of $975,000 in compensatory damages for three victims, and then added $580 million in punitives. Plaintiff’s lawyer Tom Methvin said, “The jury know the verdict would be overturned, but they wanted to send a clear message: Quit taking advantage of Alabama’s poor.” The case has been likened to Gore v BMW, also an Alabama case, in which a jury issued a $4 million punitive verdict on top of $4,000 in compensatories. In that case, the total verdict was cut to $50,000 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that excessive punitive damages violated the Fourth Amendment. In response, the Alabama legislature has passed laws limiting class action certifications and tightening rules on trial court jurisdictions. Pending is a bill to limit punitives to the greater of $500,000 or three times compensatories. Despite the perception that Alabama has lax tort laws, large companies like Mercedes-Benz, Boeing and Honda have all recently opened production facilities in Alabama. (Bloomberg, May 10, 1999; AP, May 28, 1999)

U.S. Supreme Court Sets Standards for Schools in Harassment Liability

A Georgia case has resulted in a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming schools’ liability for ignoring student complaints about sexual harassment by other students. LaShonda Davis, together with her mother, complained repeatedly about lewd attacks by a fellow fifth grader, but school officials refused to take action. The Monroe County Sheriff brought charges against the boy, who pleaded guilty, but school officials remained silent on the matter, prompting Davis’ suit. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s majority opinion found that “recipients of federal funding may be liable for subjecting their students to discrimination where the recipient is deliberately indifferent to known acts of student-on-student sexual harassment and the harasser is under the school’s disciplinary authority.” (AP, May 24, 1999)

Chief Justice Rehnquist Affirms Courts’ Independence

In a recent speech, U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist offered his thoughts on the balance between public faith in the judiciary and the independence of the courts. “The search for greater trust and confidence in the judiciary must be pursued consistently with the idea of judicial independence. It is possible, in the name of building public trust and confidence in the judicial system, to say that judges who have rendered an unpopular decision should reconsider it if a majority of the public does not agree with it. But whatever such a practice might do to increase public trust and confidence in the system – and I think it might be quite counterproductive – it would be quite contrary to the idea of an independent judiciary.” (AP, May 14, 1999)

More Cities Take Aim at Guns

Several California cities and counties have joined Chicago, New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, in suing gun manufacturers over gun violence. The cities of Berkeley, Compton, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and West Hollywood, and the counties of San Mateo and Alameda have filed suits claiming negligent marketing, under the theory that the gun makers are knowingly and recklessly selling more guns in areas with lax gun laws in order to feed illegal sales to criminals. Unlike some of the other gun suits, none of the California suits rely on product liability theory. (AP, May 26, 1999)

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds ADA Claim Against Maine Dentist

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Maine Dentist Randon Bragdon, who claims that he should not be required to treat people with HIV in his office. The action is a victory for plaintiff Sidney Abbott, who claimed that the denial of treatment violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The First Circuit Court had sided with Abbott, but issued no monetary damages. (AP, May 24, 1999)

Gov. Ventura Body Slammed Over Lawsuit Restrictions

Minnesota legislators passed a measure allowing victims in auto crashes to sue automakers if the seat belts are defective. Gov. Jesse Ventura disagreed with the law and vetoed it. But legislators overrode the veto, handing the third party governor his first legislative loss. Moreover, the override was only the fifth since 1939, and ended a streak of successful vetoes dating back 17 years. (AP, May 17, 1999)

Floridians File Suit Against Malathion Maker

Victim’s Family Offers to Trade Punitives for Recall

Jerry Harper was driving his 1990 Chevy C1500 pickup when, in an accident, his head whipped forward until the seat belt caused him to snap back. Because there was no head restraint, the backward motion snapped his neck, leaving him quadriplegic. He died three years afterward due to the injuries. A Texas jury returned a verdict of $16.5 million in compensatories and $31 million in punitives, finding that GM’s failure to include a head restraint resulted in the injuries and death. In an unusual move, the victim’s family has offered to forgo the punitive portion of the $47.5 million verdict if the automaker will agree to recall all trucks without the restraints and add them. GM has declined their offer. (Reuters, May 6, 1999)

Federal Jury Returns $4.5 Million ADA/Emotional Distress Claim

A Vietnam veteran working at Archer Daniels Midland suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Complicating his disabiity, he was subjected to severe taunts about his occasional inability to work. After a time, the taunting left him permanently disabled. A federal jury in the Central District of Illinois found his employer liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and returned a verdict of $4.5 million, including $1.5 million in compensatories under the ADA. (Owens v. Archer Daniels Midland, No. 94-2173 [CD Ill]