Facts

Plaintiff Victaulic Co. filed suit against defendant American Home Assurance Co., claiming defendant was obligated to defend plaintiff in various underlying product defect cases.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that defendant had issued plaintiff commercial general liability policies for over 10 years, between 2001 and 2012. Plaintiff was sued in various underlying product defect cases. Plaintiff claimed that defendants were obligated to defend, but failed to do so, and that defendants' failure was unreasonable (bad faith) and malicious (punitive damages).

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants denied plaintiff's contentions and asserted that they defended plaintiff in the underlying actions and acted reasonably.

Result

Verdict for the plaintiff. Plaintiff was awarded approximately $1.1 million in breach of contract damages, $8.2 million in "Brandt" (attorney) fee damages, and $46 million in punitive damages, for a total of $55.3 million.

Other Information

FILING DATE: Aug. 9, 2012.

Deliberation

one day

Length

seven weeks