Supervisor sexually harasses employee
Award: $1,100,000

Morton's of Chicago, a steak house, was found liable for sexual harassment of a female employee by a male supervisor (Kirkland v. Morton's of Chicago, Northern District Federal Court).

School fails to care for injured student
Award: $1,171,152

Lawndale School District employees failed to care for a nine-year-old after he fell on the playground, hit his head and complained of headache (Justin R. v. Lawndale School District, Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Airborne cow strikes BMW
Award: $1,010,000

An Isuzu Trooper struck a cow on State Route 166, sending it airborne and causing it to crash through the windshield of an oncoming BMW, killing occupant (Truax v. Chimineas Ltd., San Luis Obispo County Superior Court).

Train hits car, kills woman
Award: $778,000

A Santa Fe train struck a couple's car, killing the wife and causing the husband severe physical and neurological injuries (Erick-son v. A.T. & S.F., San Bernardino County Superior Court).

Payment sought for computer equipment
Award: $3,834,665

A developer/manufacture, CUBE, sought payment from Amdahl Corporation for previously-delivered computer equipment and canceled purchase orders (CUBE v. Amdahl Corp., Santa Clara County Superior Court).

Attorneys fail to prepare adequately for trial
Award: $8,100,000

The parents of a deceased child lost the right to recover for his wrongful death due to their attorneys' failure to adequately prepare the case for trial (Garland v. Ganezer, Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Trade secrets violations
Award: $31,400,000

A software company's claim of trade secrets violations caused Silvaco to lose sales of its software products (Meta Software Inc. v. Silvaco International, Santa Clara County Superior Court).

Slip and fall at Vons
Award: $73,455

A truck driver slipped and fell on a wet floor at Vons while unloading boxes and suffered a torn meniscus (Byrne v. Vons Companies Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Parties claim invention
Award: $3,140,250

Both parties claimed to be the inventor of the same product, a fund-raising peel-off coupon (Thompson v. Kraige, Central District Federal Court).

EDITOR’S NOTE: California Bar Journal publishes this abbreviated summary of important trials in California provided by Trials Digest Publishing Inc. For a free complete trial report on any case listed, call 510/420-1800.