High school student dies from asthma attack
Award: $9,000,000The previous high in California for a child's death was $5
million (Gonzalez v. Hanford Elementary School District, Kings County Superior Court).
Lab's negligence leads to cervical cancer death
Award: $1,252,614
A lab's failure to properly interpret a Pap smear slide resulted in a late diagnosis of
cervical cancer (Wellman v. Physicians Clinical Laboratory Inc., Santa Barbara County
Superior Court).
Stove burns tenant
Award: $6,650,000
A tenant in a Los Angeles apartment building suffered extensive second- and
third-degree burns when a faulty stove flashed or exploded (Hakimian v. Gabbai, Los
Angeles County Superior Court).
Bus causes collision
Award: $9,272,075
A woman suffered spinal/abdominal injuries in a three-vehicle accident caused by a
smoke cloud from a bus which obscured visibility (Largent v. Golden State Coaches Inc.,
Sacramento County Superior Court).
School hires/retains alleged molester
Award: $10,801,700
A high school student claimed that he was sexually molested by an elementary school
teacher who was plaintiff's soccer coach (William S. v. Bonita Unified School District,
Los Angeles County Superior Court).
ADA violation claimed
Award: Defense
A man claimed Kmart asked him and his son to leave because they were perceived as
having AIDS (Dirkzwager v. Kmart Corp., Northern District Federal Court).
Cost engineer claims discrimination
Award: $600,000
A female cost engineer claimed Raytheon discriminated against her under the Equal Pay
Act and Title VII (MacDonald-Pierson v. Raytheon Constructors Inc., Southern District
Federal Court).
Sandia secretary claims sexual harassment
Award: Defense
A secretary at Sandia National Laboratories claimed she was sexually harassed and
retaliated against for her complaints (Green v. Sandia National Laboratories, Northern
District Federal Court).
Marlboro cigarettes caused cancer
Award: $51,500,000
A woman with inoperable lung cancer was awarded compensatory damages and $50 million
punitive damages against Philip Morris Inc. (Henley v. Philip Morris Inc., San Francisco
County Superior 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. |
