Prisoner death
Award: $850,000
The failure of the medical staff to provide necessary psychiatric medications resulted in the death of a prisoner (White v. Brown, Eastern District Federal Court).

Construction fatality
Award: $1,250,000
A construction manager was crushed to death when a forklift lurched forward and pinned him against a loading dock (Besselievre v. General Crane Services Inc., Fresno County Superior Court).

Disability discrimination
Award: $1,284,000
The Automobile Club of Southern California failed to accommodate the medical condition of a 41-year district manager (Wysinger v. Automobile Club of Southern California, Santa Barbara County Superior Court).

Labor Code violations
Award: $172,268,673
A class action suit was brought against Wal-Mart for failure to provide meal breaks for hourly workers (Savaglio v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Alameda County Superior Court).

Physical elder abuse
Award: $825,000
A 91-year-old woman left in the care of a residential facility while her daughter was out of town was subjected to assault and battery by an employee (Schipull v. Imperial Park Senior Care Community, Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Financial elder abuse
Award: $1,142,205
An unlicensed attorney and his wife defrauded a 65-year-old woman out of substantial assets (Gomez v. Mandap, Los Angeles County Superior Court)

Underground storage tanks
Award: $25,000,000
Pacific Bell (dba AT&T) repeatedly failed to test and repair its web of underground storage tanks (People of the State of California v. Pacific Bell Telephone Co., San Joaquin County Superior Court).

Patent infringement
Award: $265,010,000
A manufacturer of medical devices successfully sued for infringement of its patents  (Mallinckrodt Inc. v. Masimo Corp., Central District Federal Court).

Whistleblower
Award: $12,576,348
A 53-year-old airline pilot was terminated in retaliation for complaining about unsafe maintenance practices (Otto v. North American Airlines Inc., Alameda County Superior Court).

Police shooting
Award: $1,825,000
A San Jose police officer shot and killed a Vietnamese woman holding a vegetable peeler, which he alleged he thought was a deadly weapon (Estate of Cau Bich Tran v. City of San Jose, Northern District Federal Court).

Editor's Note: California Bar Journal publishes this abbreviated summary of important trials in California provided by Trials Digest, a Thomson West business. To report your case results, go to west.thomson.com/trialsdigest/form.asp or call 415-344-6000.