The Miami Herald reports that a Florida jury has awarded $91 million, including $55 million in punitive damages, to the estate of philanthropist/aviation pioneer George Batchelor in a lawsuit against accounting firm BDO Seidman. The plaintiff claimed that BDO Sediman fraudulently concealed information about a company in which Batchelor had invested.
The California connection here is the plaintiff's lawyer: Steven Thomas of Thomas, Alexander & Forrester in Venice. Thomas scored an even bigger punitive damages award ($351 million) against the same defendant in another Florida case in 2009 (see this post), but that award was reversed on appeal.
February 2, 2011
California lawyer wins another big punitive damages award against BDO Seidman
