Investor Ron Perlman won big in his case against Morgan Stanley. Compensatory damages were $604.3 million. Punitive damages – limited under Florida law to three times the compensatory award – were pegged by the jury at $850 million.
Regular readers will recall the the trial judge eliminated liability as an issue after Morgan Stanley was caught playing games with discovery. The sole issues before the jury were reliance and damages.
The Company fired its law firm shortly before trial, and was given only a short continuance to allow new counsel to get up to speed. Morgan Stanley has less than $500 million reserved for this case; with interest running at $250,000 per day look for a settlement soon.