On July 28, 2011, a jury awarded sixteen residents of Herculaneum, Missouri $38.5 million in compensatory damages for exposure to lead air emissions from a primary lead smelter located in their small community. The plaintiffs were children when the initial damage was done.
The next day, the plaintiffs' attorneys asked the jury to award their clients $208 million in punitive damages. Before the day was over, the jury awarded the plaintiffs $320 million in punitive damages.
Thus ended a three-month trial, Preston Alexander, et al. vs. Fluor Corporation, et al. litigated in a Saint Louis, Missouri Circut Court.
I was an expert witness in that case. My role was to evaluate the lead air contamination situation associated with the primary lead smelter. Click here to read the trial testimony from May 27, 2011. See especially the cross-examination question and answer on Page 95, Line 14.
