5th Cir. Vacates $2.42 Million Jowers Award, Orders New Trial on Damages

NEW ORLEANS -The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a verdict for welder Robert Jowers, in part, but said the trial court erred in its apportionment of liability and ordered a new trial on damages. Jowers v. Lincoln Electric Co., et al., No. 09-60396 (5th Cir.).

The Circuit panel vacated the trial court's award of $720,000 in compensatory damages for Jowers in an Aug. 26 opinion in which it found that the trial court improperly refused to instruct the jury on a joint-tortfeasor defense. The panel said that decision mandated a reversal of the $1.7 million punitive damage award, …