Jury's Damage Award Is Supported By Record
G.G. v. GRINDLE (November 23, 2011)
Nine female South Berwyn School District 100 students brought suit against their school principal, Karen Grindle, for failing to prevent the students' sexual abuse by their band teacher. Details of the abuse were presented at trial. Each student's story was different. One student, G.G., testified about two incidents of sexual contact when she was 10 years old. One involved the touching of her breast, the other the touching of her thigh. Other students testified of more prolonged and egregious conduct. G.G.'s counselor testified that the experience was very traumatic, that G.G. was diagnosed with post-dramatic stress disorder as a result of the abuse, and that the events caused severe emotional damage. A jury found in plaintiffs' favor and awarded compensatory damages ranging from $100,000-$750,000 per plaintiff. They awarded G.G. $250,000. The jury also awarded a collective $100,000 in punitive damages. After the jury award, all plaintiffs except G.G. settled. Grindle filed a motion for remittitur, arguing that the evidence did not support the verdict. She also asked that the punitive damages be stricken. Judge Hibbler (N.D. Ill.) denied the motion. Grindle appeals.
In their opinion, Seventh Circuit Judges Flaum, Kanne, and Wood affirmed. The Court first addressed the compensatory damage award. The Court applied a three-part test -- whether the verdict is monstrously excessive, whether there is a rational connection between the evidence and the verdict, and whether the amount of the verdict is comparable to other cases. Since neither party submitted circuit cases for comparison and since the monstrously excessive prong of the test is more properly considered within the rational connection prong, the Court focused on that prong. It rejected Grindle's contention that the two "innocuous" events testified to by G.G. did not support the verdict. First, it is not the number or nature of the events but, rather, the impact on the plaintiff that should be considered. G.G. was the youngest victim and suffered severe emotional harm. Second, the fact that the jury distinguished between each of the students and awarded damages amounts along a fairly large spectrum demonstrates their careful consideration of the individual evidence. Third, the Court rejected Grindle's contention that other factors (her drug use, sexual experimentation, attempted suicide) led to G.G.'s troubles. The Court noted the substantial evidence tying G.G.'s troubles back to the abuse. Finally, the Court did note that the damage award was at the lower end of the spectrum for the nine students. The verdict was reasonable in light of the evidence. The Court next considered the punitive damage award and whether it was excessive. It rejected Grindle's argument that the award was excessive because she was not directly involved in the abuse and jury must have been focusing on the abuse. There is evidence in the record that she knew or should have known of the abuse and did nothing. That is enough for a punitive damages award.
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For years, Publications International operated ConsumerGuide.com, a website that provides free automobile price quotes. In turn, Publications transformed the price quote request into sales leads that they then sold to wholesalers, who turned around and sold them to local automobile dealers. In 2003, Publications decided to revise its business model and sell those sales leads directly to dealers. It turned to The Smart Marketing Group for help. They developed two programs – “Approved” and “Leads & Listings.” In Approved, dealers were designated as "approved" dealerships and obtained certain marketing advantages. Leads & Listings involved the actual delivery of specific sales leads to a dealer every month. Smart and Publications entered into a contract in October of 2003. Although the venture failed miserably, each party (not surprisingly) had a different story. According to Publications, Smart botched the Approved program from the beginning – and its failure put pressure to launch Leads & Listings sooner than it was ready. On the other hand, Smart claim that Approved was a big success and the reason some dealers and did not like it was because of Publication's failure to deliver the promised advantages of the program. Even after the October contract, Publications still had not finished the software necessary to deliver the sales leads. Publications decided to terminate its relationship with Smart. It purported to rely on a "termination for cause" provision in the contract. Smart filed suit for breach of contract. The case eventually went to trial. Because of certain pre-trial rulings, the only significant issue at trial was Smart's damages. Smart asked for $8.8 million. Its expert testified about each of the hundreds of dealer contracts and, making certain assumptions and estimations, projected the amount of lost profit. Although the court rendered him unqualified to testify as an expert, it did allow him to explain his calculations. Publication's experts testified that Smart's expert used unreasonable assumptions and estimations. The jury awarded lost profits of $5.6 million. Publications moved for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50 (b) and, alternatively, for a new trial under Rule 59. Judge Gottschall (N.D. Ill.) denied the motions. Publications appeals.
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In their opinion of December 1, 2009, Judges Flaum, Wood, and Williams affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a $4.45 million jury verdict awarded to the mother of a young man who died while in custody of the Cook County Jail (refer to the panel
Kevin and Melissa Fox and their children, six-year-old Tyler and three-year-old Riley, lived in a small town in Will County, Illinois, about 60 miles from Chicago. On June 6, 2004, Tyler woke his father up at about 8:00 a.m. and told him Riley was missing -- Melissa had spent the night in Chicago. Riley's lifeless body was found in a nearby forest preserve several hours later. Although the parties’ versions of the investigation vary wildly, the jury could have found the following. Will County detectives, including Scott Swearengen, conducted the investigation. At some point, Swearengen began to suspect Kevin. On October 26, the Foxes were asked to come to the station to talk about the case. Although they thought they were about to receive new information about the murder, they were mistaken. They were immediately separated. Melissa was locked in a waiting area and told that an officer would be with her shortly. Instead, she was left alone for almost 4 hours. Meanwhile, Kevin was taken to an interrogation room where Swearengen accused him of killing Riley. The officers falsely told Kevin that they had fiber evidence implicating him and a surveillance tape showing him driving his SUV during the night. Kevin took a polygraph examination, which the officers told him that he failed. When Melissa offered her love and support to Kevin, Detective Hayes started screaming. He screamed at his fellow officers to remove Melissa from the room, he screamed at Kevin that he was a "f***ing murderer," and he screamed at Melissa. Continuing to use a lot of profanity, he screamed at Melissa that Kevin was a liar and a murderer, that he never loved her, that he killed her daughter, and that she had to "get over it." After that episode, the detectives continued the interrogation of Kevin. Hayes told Kevin that if he did not confess, he would make sure that Kevin was raped every day he was in prison. At one point, Swearengen told Kevin that the state's attorney would give him a deal if he admitted that he accidentally killed his daughter. He told him he would be out on bond the very next day and wood only have to serve 3-5 years in prison. Kevin decided to go along with the story and "confessed." He immediately renounced the confession the next morning when he was allowed to meet with a lawyer. Months later, his defense team had the DNA evidence tested. The test results showed conclusively that the DNA found on Riley's body did not come from Kevin. Kevin was released the next day, after 243 days in jail. Kevin and Melissa brought suit under both § 1983 and Illinois law against several Will County detectives. Kevin's allegations included due process violations, false arrest, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), and punitive damages. Melissa's claims include loss of consortium, IIED, and punitive damages. After a six-week trial, a jury awarded Kevin $9.3 million and Melissa $6.2 million. The trial judge struck some of the punitive damage award and dismissed the case against a detective whose estate had settled. The end result was an award of $12.2 million. The detectives appeal.
Anodyne Therapy
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Gabbenelli Accordions & Imports ("American Gabbenelli") used to be the American distributor for a predecessor of defendant Ditta Gabbenelli Ubaldo Di Elio Gabbenelli ("Italian Gabbenelli"). Disputes arose between the two companies in the 1990s. In 1999, the two companies entered into an agreement under which American Gabbenelli retained the exclusive right to use the Gabbenelli mark in North America and Italian Gabbenelli retained the exclusive right to use it in Italy. The parties further agreed that future disputes would be resolved by arbitration. Notwithstanding the arbitration agreement, Italian Gabbenelli sued American Gabbenelli in an Italian court and American Gabbenelli filed this suit in the United States. American Gabbenelli charged Italian Gabbenelli with trademark infringement. The district court first rejected Italian Gabbenelli's contention that the arbitration agreement deprived the court of jurisdiction. Nevertheless, the court stayed proceedings pending the outcome of the Italian litigation. When no decision was rendered within a few years, the court lifted the stay. American Gabbenelli served Italian Gabbenelli with requests for admissions in May of 2005. Italian Gabbenelli finally appeared through counsel in October of 2005 but did not respond to the requests for admissions. Italian Gabbenelli filed an opposition to American Gabbenelli's motion for summary judgment in June of 2007, and also asked for leave to deny the requests for admissions, which had since been deemed admitted. The court denied that request and granted American Gabbenelli's motion for summary judgment. Italian Gabbenelli appeals.