Punitive Damages

The administrative judge of Baltimore Circuit Court says the firm of attorney Peter G. Angelos sought his support for legislation that could affect punitive damages awarded in thousands of asbestos cases pending in the city court. FFTC Last week, Judge Joseph H. H. Kaplan said that he once considered taking a position on the bill. After the initial contact, he asked an Angelos attorney to have other lawyers for asbestos victims send him letters about whether they had ever collected on a judgment for punitive damages on behalf of their clients.

Maryland's highest court on Tuesday struck down the bulk of a fraud case against ExxonMobil Corp. stemming from an underground gasoline leak in Baltimore County, reversing most of $1.65 billion in judgments and dealing a stunning blow to hundreds of families. In two opinions on cases arising from the 26,000 gallon spill in Jacksonville in 2006, the Court of Appeals tossed out claims of fraud and ruled that plaintiffs could not collect for emotional distress or the cost of medical care to monitor possible symptoms of illness.

One of the most hotly contested issues at the General Assembly this session has been a proposal to impose on victims harsh burdens of proof and evidence in order to collect punitive damages from corporate wrongdoers.It would require that plaintiffs not only prove that a company engaged in heinous conduct, but that a manager or principal of the company involved committed, knew about or sanctioned that wrongdoing. Awards would have to be commensurate with the harm caused.Proponents claim this bill would add a measure of predictability to punitive damage awards, which on occasion are outrageous.

A third person involved in a car accident at this year's All Good Music Festival has sued the organizers, Maryland-based Walther Productions. The jam band festival, which takes place in July in West Virginia, was accused of negligence in a pair of lawsuits filed earlier this month by two other victims, a young woman who was injured and the father of a young woman who died as a result of the car accident. In an interview last week, an attorney for the organizers defended the festival's safety record.

For those who like reruns, the state's business interests have a show for you: It's called the 1993 Maryland General Assembly, and it starts a 90-day run today in Annapolis.The featured player is punitive damages reform, an issue that brought some of the largest companies in Maryland out in force last year -- to no avail. The companies tried to pass a bill to limit the exposure of defendants to punitive awards but lost at the hands of plaintiffs' attorneys and consumer groups."I think business is coming together, both large and small, to basically pick up where we left off last year on punitive damages," said Paul Tiburzi, a lobbyist who led a business coalition that fought for the reforms.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 yesterday that punitive damages -- a sometimes costly addition to actual damages verdicts -- may be awarded under the standard arbitration agreement used by many stockbrokers.Unless a broker and an investor make a specific contractual promise to each other that punitive damages will be excluded if they get into a dispute, their agreement to follow the securities industry's usual arbitration rules leaves that option open, the court said.A punitive damages award is intended to punish a wrongdoer and to deter others from causing the same kind of harm.

ANNAPOLIS -- A bill to give Maryland businesses more protection against lawsuits seeking punitive damages cleared its first major hurdle yesterday by surviving a vote in a House committee.The House Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 in favor of House Bill 329, considered one of the most important pieces of business-related legislation this session.The committee's approval sets the stage for what both sides expect to be a bitter and protracted battle as it comes up for a vote later this week in the full House of Delegates.

U.S. District Senior Judge Alexander Harvey II yesterday dismissed a claim for punitive damages against Host Marriott Corp., but agreed to continue a bondholders' suit for $18 million in compensatory damages against the Bethesda-based hotel owner.At the end of the second week of testimony in a federal securities fraud case, Judge Harvey said there was not enough evidence to support a common law fraud claim against Host and its predecessor, the Marriott Corp., which has been accused of illegally concealing from bondholders plans to divide the company in two.Common law claims, which provide for punitive damages, are proven only by "clear and convincing" evidence.

ANNAPOLIS -- Marylanders would be able to sue their insurance companies for punitive damages if the companies acted in bad faith under a bill the Senate passed yesterday.The insurance industry objects strenuously to the measure, which the insurers say could subject them to millions of dollars in lawsuits and result in higher premiums for consumers.The bill passed the Senate 26-20, but it was reconsidered minutes later. It again passed, 24-22, exactly the constitutional majority."The bill will result in skyrocketing insurance rates and destroy our ability to fight fraud," said David Snyder, a vice president with the State Farm Insurance Cos.But Sen. John A. Pica Jr., D-Baltimore, the bill's sponsor, said it would correct a flaw in Maryland's law that, in effect, prohibits consumers from collecting anything from their insurers beyond the limits of their policies.

ANNAPOLIS -- The House of Delegates gave a strong vote of confidence yesterday to a bill that would make it more difficult to win punitive damage awards from companies.On a 90-27 vote, the House defeated a move to cut an important section from the bill, one that would protect companies from puni- tive damages if lower-level employees acted without the knowledge of supervisors and top management.That vote -- much more lopsided than both sides had predicted -- and several other votes to defeat similar attacks sent House Bill 329 to almost certain passage in its third reading, or final vote, in the House next week.

Baltimore County jurors returned a verdict for punitive damages against ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday that raises the total award stemming from an underground gasoline leak in 2006 to more than $1.5 billion, a figure that a plaintiffs' lawyer says could make it the largest judgment ever in a case of this type. A review of the final verdict, released in full Friday, shows that it includes more than $1 billion in new awards divided among 160 families and businesses in the small north county community of Jacksonville, plus compensatory damages awarded earlier in the week.

A Baltimore County jury has ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay more than $495 million to compensate a group of Jacksonville families and businesses for claims of lost property value, emotional distress and medical monitoring resulting from a 2006 underground gasoline leak - and damages could continue to grow. The Circuit Court jury was scheduled to continue working Thursday to decide an amount to award the 160 families and businesses in punitive damages, which could be several times higher.

ExxonMobil Corp. has lost its bid to avoid paying punitive damages in a case stemming from an underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County in 2006, but how much the international company will have to pay remains to be seen as the case continues in Circuit Court on Wednesday. A six-member civil jury retired for the day Tuesday after returning a sealed judgment intended to compensate families and businesses for damages - plaintiffs had claimed lost property values, medical monitoring and emotional stress.

Lawyers for dozens of Baltimore County families suing Exxon Mobil Corp. closed a six-month trial Friday by arguing for punitive damages in a 2006 underground gasoline leak in Jacksonville, accusing the corporation of playing down the potential harm of the contamination and of committing "fraud. " Lawyer Charles G. Bernstein told the nine-member jury in Baltimore County Circuit Court that "this is fraud, pure and simple. ... Their game was just plain damage control. "James F. Sanders, representing Exxon Mobil, wrapped up his case earlier Friday by arguing that the company acknowledged its responsibility in the spill of about 26,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline and continues the work of removing the liquid gasoline and vapor.

Lawyers for dozens of Baltimore County families suing Exxon Mobil Corp. closed a six-month trial Friday by arguing for punitive damages in a 2006 underground gasoline leak in Jacksonville, accusing the corporation of playing down the potential harm of the contamination and of committing "fraud. " Lawyer Charles G. Bernstein told the nine-member jury in Baltimore County Circuit Court that "this is fraud, pure and simple. … Their game was just plain damage control. " James F. Sanders, representing Exxon Mobil, wrapped up his case earlier Friday by arguing that the company acknowledged its responsibility in the spill of about 26,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline and continues the work of removing the liquid gasoline and vapor.

A Baltimore jury has awarded an aspiring boxer more than $113,000 in damages and medical expenses after a hit-and-run by an unmarked police vehicle in 2009, according to his attorney. Deon Johnson, 19, said he was sitting on a dirt bike at Pennsylvania Avenue and Mosher Street when an unmarked city police car hit him and knocked him to the ground. The civil jury awarded Johnson more than $53,000 for pain and suffering and his medical expenses, as well as $60,000 in punitive damages from Officer Scott Reid, who was driving, and Officers Steven Kolacz and Brandon Barnes, who were passengers.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland's business community came out in '' force yesterday to fight for legislation that it says would make punitive damages more predictable and solve one of the most serious threats to the state's economic competitiveness."

U.S. seeks class action vs. Wal-Mart SAN FRANCISCO: The Obama administration sided with women suing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for discrimination yesterday, urging a federal appeals court to let current and former workers sue as a group and proceed with the biggest sex-bias case in U.S. history. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rejected Wal-Mart's argument that as many as 2 million workers shouldn't be allowed to seek back pay and punitive damages as a group because that would violate the company's right to defend itself against each worker's claims before a jury.

A jury awarded more than $150 million yesterday to the neighbors of a northern Baltimore County service station, finding Exxon Mobil Corp. liable for the damage caused when thousands of gallons of gasoline seeped into the groundwater from a leaking pipe. The Baltimore County jury's verdict - delivered after five months of testimony and nearly two weeks of deliberations - directs the oil giant to compensate about 90 Jacksonville families for the lost value of their homes. It also requires Exxon to pay for cancer screenings, and it acknowledges the upheaval caused by the huge spill by awarding millions of dollars for emotional distress.But the six-member panel stopped well short of the multibillion-dollar verdict sought by the plaintiff's lawyers.