Verdicts & Settlements

$32.5 Million Jury Verdict in Individual Mississippi Deceptive Life Insurance Sales Practices case.

October 25, 2002

A Copiah County jury in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, returned a verdict of $32.5 Million in favor of Smith Phillips clients, Rev. Dolton Haggan, Mrs. Irma Myers and Col & Mrs. S. E. McDaniel, recently in a deceptive sales practices case involving "vanishing premium" life insurance. The three Mississippi policyholders purchased Jackson National "Ultimate II" life insurance policies from three different Jackson National agents. Each purchaser was assured the policy was a "single premium" policy or would be "paid in full" after only a few payments. The insurance company later advised the purchasers that additional payments would be required to keep the policies in force.

The Mississippi jury found the policies were sold pursuant to an organized marketing plan conceived and directed by the defendant insurance company from its home office in Lansing, Michigan. The verdict included approximately $22,000 in actual damages and $32.5 Million in punitive damages.

The case, Haggan v. Jackson National, Cause No. 96-0295, Copiah County Circuit Court, was widely watched nationally. It was covered by NBC and was the subject of an article in The WALL STREET JOURNAL. Jackson National, unlike a number of other life insurance companies, chose not to resolve the "vanishing premium" problems of its policyholders on a class action basis. Instead, the company successfully contested nationwide class certification in Multidistrict Litigation pending in Federal Court in Michigan. The $32.5 Million verdict on behalf of three individual Mississippi policyholders was returned in the first of the individual cases to go to trial against the company.


Haggan et al v. Jackson National, No. 96-0295, Copiah County, Mississippi

GM Verdict Nets Over $5 Million

October 11, 2002

The Mississippi Supreme Court denied certiorari in Pegues v.General Motors, allowing a $3,329,600 jury verdict for the plaintiff to stand. The action resulted in a net recovery in excess of $5 million after interest and the 15% statutory appeal damages were added as required by Mississippi law. [See, MISSISSIPPI CODE §11-3-23]

Mississippi resident Jimmy Pegues was seriously injured in a one-vehicle accident found by the jury to be caused by a defective GM ball joint on a Chevrolet pickup.  The Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict. In a detailed written opinion, rich in fact and law, the Court of Appeals found the verdict supported by the evidence which showed the ball joint broke before the vehicle left the vehicle left the road. The Court addressed a number of evidentiary issues, including admissibility of expert testimony. GM argued that the damage award was excessive, but the Court found the amount of the award supported by the evidence.

Mississippi Supreme Court Upholds $3.4 Million Smith Phillips Verdict In Defective Tire Case

October 07, 2002

A Panola County, Mississippi, jury verdict of $3.4 million against Cooper Tire, including punitive and actual damages, in Tuckier v. Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and Ford Motor Company was affirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. The verdict in the wrongful death action filed by Smith Phillips partner Briggs Smith and attorney Tab Turner of Little Rock included $3 million in punitive damages. The case arose from the death of 33-year-old Laura Tuckier of Rienzi, Mississippi. Ms. Tuckier was killed when the Ford Bronco II vehicle she was driving rolled over on I-55 north of Sardis. Eyewitnesses reported that the accident was caused by a "blowout" of a tire on the vehicle.

Evidence at the trial of the products liability action showed the accident was caused by tire failure, the result of a tread separation on one of the Cooper tires on the vehicle. Three of the four tires on the vehicle were found by X-ray to be defective. All three tires were manufactured during the same week at the Cooper Texarkana, Arkansas plant. Testifying in the week-long trial in Sardis, Mississippi, former Cooper Tire employees described employee disputes and manufacturing problems at the Cooper plant during the time of the tires’’ manufacture. Two former employees of the plant testified that the Cooper compensation system was tied to the number of tires found to be defective – a system the plaintiffs described as putting profits over safety. The employees described contamination of rubber compounds used in the tires and lack of proper bonding on tires manufactured at the Texarkana plant, a condition that can result in tread separation.

The jury returned a verdict for the Tuckier family for compensatory damages in the amount of $485,000. In the trial of the punitive damage phase of the case, the jury returned an additional verdict of $3 million as punitive damages against Cooper Tire.

The Mississippi Supreme Court, affirming the jury decision, held that Cooper Tire and Rubber Company manufactured a defective tire and was responsible for the death of Laura Tuckier. The Mississippi Court affirmed the amount of the verdict, holding that both compensatory and punitive damages were in order and were not excessive. Cooper petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari, seeking a review of the punitive award. The U.S. Supreme Court denied cert, letting the verdict stand.

Co-defendant Ford Motor Company settled prior to trial. The amount of the Ford settlement was confidential.

Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. v. Tuckier, No. 2000-CA-00404-SCT, Supreme Court of Mississippi.

For a full version of the Mississippi Supreme Court decision, click here.

$2.3 Million Verdict in Eminent Domain Case

January 12, 2001

A Desoto County Jury in Hernando, Mississippi returned a verdict of $2.3 Million in favor of Smith Phillips client, Highland Development LLC, in an eminent domain case filed by the Mississippi Transportation Commission. The case, handled by Paul Scott of the Hernando office of Smith, Phillips, Mitchell, Scott & Nowak, arose from the taking of a portion of Blue Lake Springs Subdivision, a 462 acre residential subdivision in western DeSoto County featuring home sites on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi Delta and a 100 acre spring-fed lake.

The Mississippi Transportation Commission planned to build "Relocated Hwy. 304" through the Blue Lake Springs Subdivision as part of the State’s "Gaming Roads Program".  The Commission offered the owners just under $200,000 as "just compensation."  The owners retained Paul Scott of Smith, Phillips, Mitchell Scott & Nowak to represent them in their eminent domain case. The Mississippi Transportation Commission argued that just compensation to the land owners was $197,775. Highland Development’s expert appraiser, Rip Walker, testified that just compensation was $2,300,000 taking into account not only the 37.3 acres taken but also the damage done to the remainder of the property. After a week long trial, a DeSoto County jury agreed that Highland Development was damaged and returned a verdict of $2.3 million — the full amount sought by Scott and the landowners.

$2.3 Million Judgement in Casino Intersection Death Case

December 21, 1999

In a non-jury case tried in the Circuit Court of Tunica County, Mississippi, Smith Phillips clients Rachael McBride and her young son, Trey, obtained a $2.3 Million judgment as a result of the wrongful death of husband and father, Larry McBride. Mr. McBride was killed in a collision with a Classic Coach casino shuttle bus.The collision occureed at an unmarked intersection. The stop sign had been knocked down in a previous collision at the same site.In McBride v. Miss. Dept. of Transportation, Classic Coach, Inc., et al, Circuit Judge John L. Hatcher found the Department of Transportation, Classic Coach, and Coach driver Albert Rush, Sr. liable for the death.“Recoverable damages” were assessed by the Court at $2.6 Million, resulting in a judgement in the amount of $2.34 Million for the McBrides after reduction for 10% comparative negligence assessed to McBride. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed as modifies at 823 So.2d 517.


For more on Smith Phillips' Casino Litigation Practice, click here.

$27 Million Settlement in Class Action

August 14, 1995

Brent R. Nickle, Individually and on Behalf of Others Similarly Situated vs. Crown Life Insurance Company, Civil Action No. M-96-238 (S.D. Tex.) [Class action case on behalf of 22,000 member nationwide class of "vanishing premium" life insurance policyholders settled for $27 million.]

Additional Prominent Cases

September 04, 1994