Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster denied a minority shareholder request to enjoin the controlling shareholders’ acquisition of the minority shareholders’ shares.  The Court concluded that although the structure of the transaction could be reasonably questioned, the availability of monetary damages would provide an adequate remedy to the plaintiffs.

The Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog has all the details. 

Court video of the CNX/CONSOL injunction hearing is available on CVN.

In CNX Gas v. CONSOL Energy, CVN webcast the CNX minority shareholders’ challenge to CONSOL Energy’s attempt to acquire the remaining shares of CNX (16.7% @ $38.25 per share) that it did not already own.

Cameras might be coming to the nation’s highest court if Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan were to have her say.  In a CSPAN interview last summer, Solicitor General Kagan said of cameras,

“I’ve thought about this question a bit. If cameras were in the courtroom, the American public would see an amazing and extraordinary event. This court is so smart and so prepared and so engaged. And everybody who gets up there at the podium is — the toughest questions, the most challenging questions are thrown at that person…I think if you put cameras in the courtroom people would see, ‘Wow,’ they would see an institution of government I think working at a really high level. So that’s one plus factor for doing it.”

Last year, when Senator Kohl asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about courtroom cameras, then-nominee Sotomayor gave a more guarded response:

“I have had positive experiences with cameras. When I have been asked to join experiments using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated…I would be a new voice in the discussion, and new voices often…consider taking different approaches.”

If Justice Sotomayor’s words were considered relatively supportive of opening the federal judiciary to cameras, nominee Kagan’s words suggest an even stronger commitment to openness — at least with respect to the Supreme Court.

In re: Tobacco Litigation, a product liability case that consolidates as many as 1,000 individual tobacco claims in West Virginia, will be webcast live by CVN. The individual cases were consolidated in 2000.

In September 2005, Circuit Judge Arthur Recht certified a question to the West Virginia Supreme Court, asking whether the tobacco trial could be bifurcated into two phases: some elements of liability and a punitive damages multiplier would be determined in the first phase; compensatory damages for each plaintiff, and punitive damages based on the multiplier, would be determined in the second phase. The Supreme Court answered affirmatively.

The plaintiffs allege that Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard could have made safer cigarettes and deceived the plaintiffs about the health risks. 

The trial was originally scheduled to begin at the start of 2010, but a mistrial was declared when the litigants were unable to find enough impartial jurors.

Phase 1 of the trial is scheduled to start next week.  A different jury will hear Phase 2.

CVN is webcasting the West Virginia consolidated tobacco cases live. 

The jury in Buonomo v. R.J. Reynolds awarded over $30M in damages: $0.4M in past medical expenses, $4.8M in compensatory damages to Matthew Buonomo’s wife, Connie Buonomo, and $25M in punitive damages.

The jury assigned 77.5% fault to R.J. Reynolds, and 22.5% fault to Matthew Buonomo.

In closing argument, the plaintiffs had asked for $13M in compensatory damages, and $62M in punitive damages.  The defense suggested that in addition to the $405K in past medical expenses, $250K would compensate Connie Buonomo for the loss of her husband, and even if punitive damages were assessed, an amount of $250K was warranted, because it would effectively double the compensatory award.

CVN’s Engle-Progeny Verdict Tracker shows the trend in Engle verdicts.

CVN webcast the Buonomo tobacco trial live. 

Penalty phase closing arguments began today in CVN’s live webcast of the Buonomo v. R.J. Reynolds Engle-progeny tobacco trial.

Plaintiff attorney John Uustal, of the law firm Kelley Ustall, told the jury, “R.J. Reynolds designed their cigarettes to be as addictive as possible, while targeting children, sending people to schools, knowing this was a deadly product…You will decide in this case whether R.J.R needs to be punished.  That is your decision.”

Uustall suggested that Todd Buonomo’s compensatory damages, for pain and suffering during his life time, and for the shortening of his life, should be approximately $13M. According to Uustal, a punitive damage award of even $62M would have no effect on R.J. Reynolds’ operations, and would be just a fraction of R.J. Reynolds’ profits, which he estimated at $3.5M per day.

Defense attorney Steven Giese, of the law firm Jones Day, responded “This case is not a referendum on cigarettes or smoking…Cigarettes are a legal product. They are legal to manufacture. They are legal to sell…They are legal to smoke…and you can’t hold Reynolds liable for the mere act of selling cigarettes.”

“There is no evidence that he started smoking because of anything Reynolds did or anything Reynolds said…There is no evidence that anyone, including Reynolds, forced him to continue smoking during the 1940′s. It was his own decision.”

According to Giese, Buonomo selected Camel as his regular brand because Mrs. Buonomo preferred the smell of Camel, and he liked the taste of Camel, not because of any advertising or company statements. The ads might influence the public generally, but in this case there was no evidence that the ads influenced Mr. Buonomo.

CVN is webcasting live the Buonomo v. Reynolds Engle-progeny tobacco trial. 

CVN is pleased to announce its newest video collection, “Large Verdicts,” which includes more than 25 of CVN’s largest verdicts to date. The Large Verdicts collection will be constantly growing, as we continue to add multi-million dollar verdicts and punitive damage awards.

CVN’s entire Large Verdicts collection is available for as little as $49 per month, and includes these cases:

$505M – Chanin v. Desert Shadow Endoscopy. Punitive damages were awarded based on inadequate warnings on vials of the anesthetic Propofol that caused the spread of Hepatitis C.

$364M – Bondi v. Citigroup. Citigroup was awarded damages as a result of the Parmalot fraud.

$316M – McDavid v. Turner. Owner of the Atlanta sports teams “Hawks” and “Thrashers” breached a contract to sell the teams.

$233M – Rowatt v. Wyeth. Three breast cancer survivors who had used Wyatt’s Hormone Replacement Therapty (HRT) drug, Prempro recovered compensatory and punitive damages.

$208M. Evans v. A.W. Chesterton. The plaintiff contracted mesothelioma from asbestos fibers on the clothing of her husband, who sawed pipes.

$78M.  U.S. Global v. Progress Energy. Commercial litigation involving breach of asset purchase, commission, and services agreements. 

$54M. Godfrey v. Precision Automotive. A private airplane crashed due to a defective carburator.

$50M. Thomas v. Global Vision. Defendant violated California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) by marketing its hair regrowth treatment Avacor as “natural” and “herbal”, even though it had same active ingredient as Rogaine.

$47.5M. Hermans v. Merck. Pharmaceutical products liability trial against Merck for heart attacks allegedly caused the painkiller drug Vioxx.

$38M. IREF v. Pfizer. Trade secret misappropriate claim arising from Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) clinical drug trials for Bextra, a second-generation Cox-2 inhibitor. 

NEW $30M. Buonomo v. R.J. Reynolds. $25M in punitive damages were awarded to the wife of a man who started smoking as a teenager, and died of emphysema after a lifetime of smoking three packs per day.

$30M. Cohen v. R.J. Reynolds. The plaintiff’s husband in this Engle-progeny tobacco trial was a smoker who died of lung cancer in 1994.

$25M. McCarrell v. Hoffman La Roche. The plaintiff developed inflammatory bowel disease and had his colon removed after he took the acne medication Accutane. 

$20M. Putney v. R.J. Reynolds. The plaintiff’s wife in this Engle-progeny tobacco trial was a smoker who died of lung cancer in 1995.

$18M. E*Trade v. Deutsche Bank. E*Trade won a breach of contract claim based on an accounting error that overstated the value of a business it purchased from Deutsche Bank.

$18M. Watson v. Ford. A Ford Explorer sudden acceleration case resulting from an allegedly faulty cruise control.

$18M. Moreno v. Ford. A Ford Explorer roll-over accident was caused by a tire dealer’s installation of a Firestone tire that had been recalled.

$17.7M. Wheeler v. Ford.  A Ford Explorer’s defective rear seat occupant protection system left the plaintiff a permanent, complete quadriplegic. The case settled while the jury was deliberating over a punitive damages award.

$16M. Schein v. Ernst & Young. The plaintiffs recovered $10M and $6M respectively based on negligent audits conducted by Ernst & Young.

$14.7M. Kentucky v. Watson. AstraZeneca misstated the wholesale price on its drugs.

$13.5M. McDarby v. Merck. The defendant withheld information about its pain killer Vioxx, which caused a heart attack. 

$12M. Cannon v. E&D. The plaintiff was severely burned when a tow truck smashed into the rear of his stalled Ford Mustang.

$11M. Citrus Canker Litigation. Inverse condemnation proceeding seeking compensation for 133,720 citrus trees that were destroyed in a failed effort to contain a bacterial plant disease.

$10.5M. Kendall v. Hoffman La-Roche. The defendant failed to adequately warn that its acne medication Accutane could cause Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

$9M. Wisconsin v. Abbott Laboratories. Defendant, Pfizer’s Pharmacia, misstated its drug prices in this Average Wholesale Price (AWP) Medicare fraud litigation.

$8.5M. Starrh v. Aera. Oil production field waste water was placed in unlined percolation pits, which contaminated a neighboring farmer’s groundwater.

$8M. Hess v. R.J. Reynolds. The plaintiff’s husband in this Engle-progeny tobacco trial died of lung cancer in 1997 because he was addicted to tobacco.

$4.6M. Alterman v. Zep. Road construction companies failed to adequately warn drivers of a rolling roadblock. 

$4.5M. Kornak v. North Broward Hospital. The plaintiff’s 35-year old husband died after he was placed under anesthesia even though he was experiencing respiratory distress.

$4.3M. Kroll v. Zolfaghari. The plaintiff suffered brain, liver, and kidney damage as a result of the failure to diagnose an enterovirus infection at the time of her birth.

CVN’s entire Large Verdicts collection is available for as little as $49 per month. Or try CVN’s two free days offer, no obligation. 

After briefly deliberating today, the jury in CVN’s live webcast of Barkman v. Adams awarded $19,441 in damages to Laura Barkman, and $1,335,592 in damages to Randall Hobbs, including $800K for lost future wages and $382K for future pain and suffering. Hobbs’ brain was damaged as a result of a collision between the motorcycle he was riding and an SUV. Hobbs was not wearing a helmet.

The Barkman v. Adams trial webcast by CVN involved the damages resulting from a vehicle collision involving an SUV and a motorcycle, which ejected the motorcycle drivers into the street. The parties agreed prior to trial that the defendant SUV driver was 100% responsible for the accident. However, the parties did not agree as to the damages.

Both motorcycle passengers were injured, but one had fully recovered, whereas the other suffered permanent coup contrecoup frontal lobe brain injuries that caused a significant change in personality. The plaintiff argue that, because he lost his ability to sequence, organize, and plan, he would never again be a construction supervisor. He had also lost his sense of smell, and, said the plaintiff, would live with anguish, depression, and fear.

The plaintiff requested damages of over $3.5M

The defense argued that the injuries would have been much less severe if the plaintiffs had been wearing helmets. Further, said the defense, the plaintiff’s work life had not been shortened by ten years, and his ability to multi-task was not lost.

CVN webcast the Barkman v Adams trial live.