Thursday, February 04, 2010
Georges Marciano
A $370 million award against blue jeans designer Georges Marciano has topped the list of Lawyers USA’s Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2009. Marciano, the man who gave the world Guess Jeans and introduced acid-washed denim, has seen his wealth evaporate as a result of his paranoia, which led him to accuse employees of stealing from him. He filed a lawsuit against five former workers, but wound up losing the case after the judge ruled there had been no embezzlement. Instead of getting back money that was never lost, Marciano was ordered to pay $370 million, including $25 million in punitive damages.
Of the remaining top 10 expensive verdicts, seven came out of personal injury cases. Lawyers USA says the average award for 2009 was higher than the previous year’s, going up from $112 million to nearly $145 million.
The remaining verdicts were:
2. Florida jury awards mother $330 million in DUI fatality: An all-woman jury in Hernando County, Florida, needed less than an hour to award $330 million to the mother of 13-year-old Shelby Taylor Hagman, who was killed in a drunken driving accident in April 2007. The driver, Christopher Marcone, pleaded guilty and is serving a 13-year prison sentence.
3. $300 million record-setting tobacco verdict: Jurors in Broward County, Florida, needed just three hours of deliberations to charge Philip Morris with a $300 million award in favor of Cindy Naugle, who is suffering from severe emphysema 41 years after she began smoking at age 20.
4. Missouri jury awards $89 million in drunk driving case: In one of the largest DWI damages verdicts in history, the family of 28-year-old Dennie Riegel, who was killed by a drunk driver, was awarded $89 million. The driver, Tony Zerna, is serving a 10-year prison term.
5. Illinois woman wins $78.75 million Prempro verdict: In the largest individual hormone replacement therapy verdict so far, a Philadelphia jury ordered Pfizer Inc. to pay $78.75 million in damages to Connie Barton of Illinois who claimed the hormone therapy replacement drug Prempro caused her breast cancer.
6. $77.4 million for parents of infant injured during childbirth: A jury ordered St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, New York, to pay $77.4 million to the parents of Diego Baizan to cover future costs resulting from cerebral palsy and other conditions caused by improper monitoring of his birth.
7. Ousted water company partner wins $71 million: Dean Davenport, a partner in a three-man water well drilling company that supplied water to San Antonio, Texas, sued his partners, James Allen and Mark Wynne, after they tried to shut him out of the business. In a countersuit, Davenport was ordered to pay Allen and Wells $600,000 for violating a drilling agreement.
8. $70 million for injured workers in workers’ comp case: A Texas jury handed down a $70 million verdict against an insurance company, Discover Property & Casualty, and its claims adjuster, JI Specialty Services, finding that they recklessly failed to timely pay workers’ compensation benefits to Charles Tate, a maintenance supervisor at an apartment complex, who was severely injured when he fell 30 feet from a ladder while operating a chain saw.
9. $65 million for Florida car accident: A Polk County, Florida, jury awarded $65 million to Kendra Lymon, whose car was broadsided by an 18-wheeler truck driven by Robert Bohn in 2007, leaving the 19-year-old with brain damage so severe she can no longer speak or care for herself. Bohn worked part-time for Bynum Transport Inc, which failed to note that he had just completed a 24-hour shift for the county fire department.
10. $60 million for medical malpractice: A New York City jury awarded $60 million to a woman left deformed by a botched thigh lift performed by Dr. Ferdinand Ofodile, who failed to warn her about possible risks related to the surgery.
-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff
Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2009 (Lawyers Weekly)
Rags Brought Riches to Guess Co-Founder Georges Marciano, But Now He Faces Ruin (by Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times)
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