Saying that defender Daniel J. Gerber had a jury trial with bad facts seems an understatement: allegations of racketeering, a parade of former employees testifying about widespread document fraud, mysterious disappearance of documents and, to top it off, a possible $100 million punitive damages award following millions in compensatory damages.
Gerber’s case involved the owner of Lighthouse Bay apartment complex in Tampa, Fla., suing Orkin Inc. over a termite-treatment contract. Looming over the outcome was a 2000 Alabama fraud case against Orkin that resulted in an $80.8 million verdict, most of which consisted of punitive damages, which were reduced on appeal to $2.3 million. The Florida case contained some of the same documents presented in Alabama.
