Financier Ronald Perelman wins $604 million, with a request for punitive damages still to come, against Morgan Stanley on claims that the Wall Street firm defrauded him seven years ago when he sold camping equipment maker Coleman to Sunbeam Corp., a Morgan client. (Bloomberg/New York Times/AP). The unexpectedly large verdict came after the Florida state judge presiding over the case blasted Morgan and its law firm for not responding in a forthcoming way to requests for discovery of electronically stored records, and instructed the jury to infer that the withheld documents demonstrated fraud. Blog commentary: Monica Bay, Francis Pileggi, Lisa Stone (and earlier), Litigation Support Guy (and again), Tom Kirkendall (and earlier), Really Think. More: jury votes $850 million in punitive damages (Jill Barton, “Perelman Wins $1.4 Billion Total in Suit Against Morgan Stanley”, AP/Law.com, May 19); Tom Kirkendall comments (May 18). Updates Dec. 17: Morgan Stanley files appeal; Mar. 22, 2007: appeals court overturns verdict.

Filed under: Delaware, procedure