Major media outlets and a handful of industry pundits quickly attached the “landmark” label to a recent multimillion-dollar jury verdict against Murphy-Brown, the hog production division of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods. But a closer look at the trial reveals several ways the jury’s decision could leave little or no mark.
The $50-million-plus award followed three weeks of trial and a parade of witnesses in North Carolina federal court. In the end, 10 plaintiffs were awarded $75,000 each for compensatory (actual) damages and $5 million each for punitive (exemplary) damages.