Falling sign
Award: $12,751,600
A 28-year-old man was rendered a paraplegic after a 1,700-pound marquee sign from an abandoned theater fell on him as he was walking by (Doll v. Arena Group 2000 LP, San Diego County Superior Court).

UC fee dispute
Award: $28,093,260
A class action suit was filed on behalf of thousands of University of California students, alleging that UC breached its promise to hold the amount of professional degree fees constant for the duration of a student’s enrollment (Kashmiri v. The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco County Superior Court).

Brakes overheat
Award: $2,000,000
A passenger in a pickup truck hauling a trailer sustained massive injuries when the brakes overheated and failed while going downhill because the owner of the trailer failed to hook up the brakes on the trailer (Grajeda v. Maack Wholesale Inc., Imperial County Superior Court).

Wal-Mart bicycles
Award: Defense
Ten minors were injured while riding bicycles purchased from Wal-Mart, allegedly due to defective quick-release levers (May-Carmen v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Marin County Superior Court).

Aqueduct drowning
Award: $9,995,000
A mother sustained severe brain damage and her three children died when her vehicle plunged into a California aqueduct lacking a guardrail mandated by CalTrans (Ramirez v. CalTrans, Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Patent royalties
Award: $500,100,000
A non-profit public benefit corporation sued Genentech for royalties on patents obtained using the corporation’s research on recombinant DNA technology (City of Hope National Medical Center v. Genentech Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Asbestos exposure
Award: $5,151,000
A 52-year-old mechanic contracted terminal lung cancer as a result of asbestos exposure while working on refrigerator compressors (Morrison v. Copeland Corp., San Francisco County Superior Court).

Overtime pay
Award: $2,000,000
A class action lawsuit was brought by former managers at Abercrombie & Fitch stores who claimed that they were improperly classified as exempt to avoid the payment of overtime wages (Kimbell v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court).

Trip and fall
Award: Defense
An 86-year-old shopper tripped on a pallet in the aisle of a market and sustained a broken hip (Frank v. Daily Seafood Inc., San Mateo County Superior 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.