In a case involving a commercial dispute between an Indiana and German company, CCL President Robert S. Peck argued that the Indiana company’s victory in the first trial of the matter should be reinstated. Slurry Systems, Inc., which had been awarded an Army Corps of Engineers contract, to build a retaining wall in Illinois for the McCook Reservoir, had leased, with an option to own, an enormous cutter manufactured by Bauer, a German company. However, constant problems with the cutter caused the project to drag on. Moreover, even though the contract required a new cutter, the one delivered was more than two years old.

After a jury trial, Slurry won a verdict of $3 million in compensatory damages. However, the judge presiding over the case ordered a new trial on his own motion for two reasons: 1) the jury failed to specify an amount for an equitable adjustment that would have increased the amount of the verdict, and 2) the jury awarded “monstrously excessive” punitive award on a claim in which no damages were awarded. Peck argued that the trial judge had an obligation to harmonize the jury’s verdict with the evidence, or order a damages-only retrial. He added, the punitive damages should have merely been stricken. If the first trial did not count, Peck said, then the second trial was flawed because Bauer adopted a new legal theory, in violation of the rules governing new trials. Therefore, the second trial should not count either, making a third trial the only logical next step. The case is now under advisement.