Ala. Judge Cut Record $581M Verdict
By JOHN ZENOR
02:56 AM ET 08/27/99
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A $581 million jury award in a $1,200 satellite dish
dispute has been sliced almost in half by a judge who nonetheless lauded the jury's
``courage and vision'' for the initial verdict. Hale County Circuit Judge Marvin
Wiggins gave little explanation for his decision to cut the punitive damages against
Transamerica Bank to $300 million. Compensatory damages remained at $975,000.
The initial verdict in May raised renewed cries of so-called ``jackpot justice''
and prompted the Legislature to put caps on punitive damage awards.
Wiggins acknowledged the controversy in his ruling, saying he recognized the
impact the verdict had on ``businesses, society and the judicial process.
``However, our system of justice commands this type of judicial system,'' he
wrote. ``One must wonder if the jury had returned a verdict in favor of the defendants,
would there be such a roar to overturn it and grant the plaintiffs a just award?''
Transamerica, formerly Whirlpool Financial National Bank, had asked Wiggins to
set aside the $581 million verdict or grant a new trial. The bank still plans to appeal
the case to the Alabama Supreme Court.
``If you award people that kind of money for this type of situation, what do you
do for someone who lost an arm or a leg or has been seriously disabled?'' asked Jimmy
Gewin, an attorney for Transamerica. ``What kind of yardstick do you use to compensate
those people? You'd have to use trillions.''
Barbara Carlisle and her parents, George and Velma Merriweather, sued Whirlpool
and Gulf Coast Electronics contending the companies tried to gouge them out of $1,200 on
the sale of two $1,100 satellite dishes in 1995.
Jurors heard testimony that the company cheated thousands of Alabamians out of
$8 million by getting them to sign credit card deals that required them to pay as much as
300 percent interest, though the advertised rate was 22 percent.
In Wednesday's ruling, the judge called the jury's verdict ``shocking and
unexpected'' - but also appropriate with a finding that Whirlpool engaged in a malicious
and predatory sales practice that targeted ``poor, undereducated, elderly and
African-American citizens of Alabama.''
Transamerica argued that the plaintiffs failed to produce evidence of ``mental
anguish'' or prove that they were misled by the bank. It said the lawsuit was an attempt
to hold the bank responsible for the actions of an independent retailer.
Don Gantt, owner of Gulf Coast Electronics, has said his company did nothing
wrong. He has filed a lawsuit against Whirlpool in U.S. District Court in Mobile in an
effort to make Whirlpool pay all the Hale County verdict.
