The 10 highest jury verdicts of 2001, according to Lawyers Weekly USA. The verdicts could be reduced on appeal.

        1. In June, a California jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $5.54 million in compensation and $3 billion in punitive damages to Richard Boeken, a smoker with cancer. A judge reduced the award to $100 million.

        2. In May, a Louisiana jury ordered ExxonMobil Corp. to pay $1.06 billion to retired Judge Joseph Grefer for radioactive contamination of his land.

        3. In August, a Florida jury ordered aircraft manufacturer Cessna to pay $480 million for an airplane crash that severely burned all three occupants.

        4. In Texas, a jury weighing a wrongful death suit of an elderly nursing home resident awarded the largest nursing home verdict ever: $312.8 million. The case was settled in June for $20 million.

        5. A Florida jury in July awarded a family $256 million in a wrongful-death suit that stemmed from an auto crash involving a police officer.

        6. A Virginia jury in August awarded two friends $116 million, including $95 million in punitive damages, because a company used their product idea.

        7. A New York jury in November weighed a lawsuit brought by guardians of a crack addict who sustained brain damage when a respiratory tube was removed. The jury awarded the guardians $114.9 million.

        8. In May, an inheritance dispute between the daughter of an industrialist and her stepmother resulted in a Texas jury awarding $108.2 million to the daughter. A motion for a new trial has been granted.

        9. A New York jury in May awarded the family of a boy brain-damaged during birth $107.8 million in a medical malpractice suit.

        10. In January, a jury ordered San Diego to pay $94.5 million in a land dispute centered on a developer's claim that the city reneged on a development agreement.

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