Dennis Sweet apparently got a $7M jury verdict (actual damages) in Jefferson County today. John Corlew and others were defending.
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Mississippi Jury Verdict rumblingsJune 25, 2009, 5:00 pm | Tags: jury verdict | Category: Law: National, Mississippi Legal |
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I am pretty sure you meant Dennis Sweet.
Also, this entry has the same level of detail that I find in the Clarion Ledger.
Just pickin’, NMC.
Well, Michael Jackson didn’t take the verdict well, that’s for sure.
It’s a lead paint case against Sherwin Williams, with lawyers from Jones Day in Atlanta also defending, and that’s all I know. You’re right about my mispellings of the lawyer’s name.
A lead paint case? Lead paint for homes has been outlawed since the mid-70′s? With what I have read about Jefferson County juries, I will surmise that this says more about Jefferson County juries and judges, than it does about Sherwin Williams and lead paint.
I’ve got a box of dots here, let’s see it says yep! Dennis Sweet. Wonder if there’s a future supreme court justice or perhaps senator in the making. Say that’s Jefferson County huh?
Here we go again there will be screams of run away verdicts in Mississippi again, truth is the problem if any is in 4-5 counties. I would feel better if I knew how this case made it to Jefferson County, what the facts and injuires are?
Tim, based on my experience as a defense lawyer in Jefferson County, the facts are probably these: The plaintiff lived in a house that she thinks was painted once with Sherwin Williams paint, and she thinks it’s made her sick. That ought to be enough in Fayette.
You mean to tell me that eating all those paint chips as a small child was a bad thing?
Just a guess, but this probably had to do with industrial coatings, not house paint.
Does anyone know any of the facts surrounding this case?
For all the Jefferson County juries referenced by the comments can someone please point out a substantial plaintiff’s verdict that has come from that county since 1999? There hasn’t been one. This was a house paint case where the child is mentally retarded from his exposure to Sherwin Williams lead paint. The case was in Jefferson County because that is the Plaintiff’s residence.
Who was the medical expert that was able to positively link the lead paint to the mental retardation? And when was the house painted?
The house was last painted with Sherwin Williams lead paint in the 1970′s. There were several product identification witnesses that established Sherwin Williams lead paint was used. Check the Supreme Court decisions, they have already had the case once and decided there were genuine issues of material fact for a jury to decide.
Yeah, this case was tossed on SJ years ago, but sent back by the Supremes. How’s that for role reversals?
Edit: 2003-CT-02030-SCT
And as far as medical experts, you are almost always going to have one that says it is so, and the other not so. While the expert has to testify to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the Plaintiff only has to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, or in other words 51% likely.
It was a very hard fought case where the defense was just outright beaten. Dennis Sweet is the real deal in the Court room, and on cross examination made many of their experts look plain silly.
He had a “Historian Expert” state for the record that he re-writes history on a daily basis. The expert then looked at the African American jury and tried to explain it by saying you know like slavery. Needless to say that did not go well for the defense.
Jacksonlawyer: What is the style of the case? Parties?
Pollard/Gaines v. Sherwin Williams
Of all of the millions of things in the world that could cause a child to develop mental retardation, they were able to narrow it down to Sherwin Williams paint. Or was $7M paid because it’s possibly the cause.
JD, the child wasn’t born mentally retarded, he developed cognitive deficits later in his life. He had documented and undisputed high blood lead levels,so no it was paid because it was the more likely than not cause. So while there may be millions of things in the world that can cause mental retardation, the most likely cause in this case was lead poisoning due to eating paint chips.
Well at least there was a trial. At least the jury verdict was upheld. It isn’t like attorneys gather around and manufactured false claims. Held a trial and it failed. Or that the court refused to change it’s verdict even on appeal. Or that attorneys transferred the awards of any actual claims and channeled them to a failed trial. Or was that how this was done? One lead plaintiff at deaths door with others injected for monetary effect. Could there have been a settlement years ago to wit collection of a class with all those years of attorney service and fees now in final closure?
Jacksonlawyer above “The expert then looked at the African American jury and tried to explain it by saying you know like slavery.”
That’s a pretty disgusting way to win a case about lead paint if you ask me.
What I gather is the “History Expert” was testifying for the defense and was on cross. Is that correct Jacksonlawyer?
Even if one assumed that lead poisoning caused or contributed to the child’s later mental disorder, I am curious(and very skeptical) as to exactly how it was narrowed down (to a sufficient nature to establish legal causation) to the Sherwin Williams paint being the culprit. There are numerous potential sources for lead exposure —- eg baby/kid’s toys, drinking water, gasoline/fumes, fishing weights and lures, food containers, etc. — the list back in the 70s would have been almost endless. And the potential lead exposure from something other than lead paint would have been just as likely, if not more likely.
Yes the History Expert was a defense expert and was on cross. The expert offered his explanation on his own. The defense attorneys were not happy when THEIR expert stated that. He could not get off the stand and out of the court room quick enough.
As to the settlement comment,the lead paint industry has never paid a single claim and has taken a scorched earth policy in regards to the litigation. This was the first ever jury verdict against a lead paint manufacturer for an individual. The only other verdict was for an abatement case for the State of Rhode Island which was reversed on appeal.
If you ever research the lead paint industry it was a pretty dirty business with knowledge of the dangers going back to the early 1900′s. Even with the knowledge of the dangers, the lead paint industry marketed its product to be used in nurseries, on cribs, and in playrooms.
Back to the paint. How old is the child? If the owners bought the house in the recent past the realtor would have had to notify of the lead paint? (not sure but I have known realtors to get houses tested for lead paint). If the owners have been in the house since the 1970s how did they miss all the news reports over the past 30 years about the dangers of lead paint. Every time I take my child to the doctor I have to answer questions that revolve around lead. Like, “Do you ever visit a house that was built in the 1970s or before?”. I am just questioning how old this case is? Because the media and the medical profession have been harping on lead and lead in paint for a while now.
Is the jury going to get the case for consideration of compensatory and/or punitive damages as the above references that the 7 million verdict was actual damages. Just curious
It was $7 million for compensatory/all damages. The judge did not let it go to punitives. In MS, the judge initially decides whether a case can go to the jury for punitive damages. This was a pre-cap case so there was no million dollar limit on non-economic damages.
I belive the expert testimony at trial showed somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million in actual economic damages.
If the case involved actions in another state since SW. is a huge corporation the judge could have dismissed here to allow punitive action elsewhere. How much is at the judges discretion is questionable. “Only after compensatory actions are had can punitive awards be sought” But why look the girt horse in the mouth? Till the next one comes around this should do. Ahhh but the greed!
Oh yea the entire class lived in this same spot for years. As requirement all were equally/equity injured. And of coarse the awards were shared evenly across the board for the victims of this act of tort. Did anyone get the attorney fee amount. Still this class thing, you know. I can help but express a portion of this county claims effects of retardation and I’m expecting to see bids to the higher courts or possibly political office from there. Should fit right in.
AFOTL:
“There are numerous potential sources for lead exposure —- eg baby/kid’s toys, drinking water, gasoline/fumes, fishing weights and lures, food containers, etc. — the list back in the 70s would have been almost endless. And the potential lead exposure from something other than lead paint would have been just as likely, if not more likely.”
This jury disagrees. Them’s the breaks.
No news articles on this yet? A $7M verdict isn’t news?
More here.
OMTL, hey there’s no skin off my back here —- I have no knowledge or personal involvement in the case or anyone involved in the case. I won’t be losing any sleep over the verdict. I’m not even mildly upset, thrilled, etc. I don’t live in that hellhole of a county. I was just curious how this issue even got to the jury in the first place. I would presume that legal causation would have been a significant hurdle to overcome at the dispositive motion stage. And curious exactly how the plaintiff would be able to demonstrate that there was at least enough proof to allow a jury to consider the issue of whether, more likely than not, that lead paint, as opposed to many, many other things, caused the alleged lead poisioning that allegedly caused the mental problems.
We should all keep in mind that in Jefferson County, everyone in your jury is or was very likely a plaintiff of one type or another in mass tort cases.
i know nothing of this case or the parties involved. but be real.
causation is usually proved by exclusion. meaning you exclude all other exposures to lead, and exclude all other causes of aquired retardation -infections, injuries, etc.
and don’t you think someone could actually prove through purchase receipts, painter’s recollections, etc., more likely than not, the paint used, and who the manufactuer was.
you also blame the parents. believe it or not, not all in the world are as sophisticated as you. the child had no comparative fault. if the parents did have fault its the DEFENDANT’s (not the plaintiff’s) job to plead and prove.
and unlike most of you, not everyone has the means to have their house tested, or to strip old paint.
causation is more likely than not, not beyond a doubt.
you nay-sayers sound like the supreme court: willing to toss a verdict without even knowing the facts. i am sure, somewhere along the way, you have all heard juries, not judges, decide the disputed facts. it doesn’t matter if a judge disagrees. and it doesn’t matter that if you were on the jury you would vote differently – especially since you dont know what the actual evidence was (and neither do i).
i probably wouldn’t have taken the case given the hurdles, but if credit is due for a job well done at least admit its possible the proof actually supports this verdict.
I’m sorry, but Dennis Sweet is nothing but a shameless thug. What all of this demonstrates is that an outsider cannot get justice in Fayette, Mississippi, and that “Boss Hogg’s” court is a sham. Strong evidence that it was impossible to buy S-W lead paint after 1972 defendant was ignored by the jury. Mississippi remains an embarrassment to the U.S.A. and its fundamental values.
Wilbur @ 740 you may have just provided the most likely scenario and thereby the most insightful response on this thread. IMO.