A San Diego, California jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay $369 million to a woman paralyzed in a rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport-utility vehicle. On June 3, 2004, the jury ordered the No. 2 automaker to pay $246 million in punitive damages, after awarding more than $122.6 million in compensatory damages. Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Co. (San Diego County)

A woman whose supervisor stole her winning Super Lotto ticket was awarded just under $8 million by a Pomona jury on Sept. 30, 2003. Arwa Farraj, 24, a new employee at the Circle K in La Verne, purchased a Super Lotto ticket from the supermarket on Dec. 25, 1999. When she found out that the winning $8 million ticket had been purchased at this store, she placed her ticket into the lotto machine. Since she was unfamiliar with how the machine worked, she asked her supervisor, Gurinder Ruby, for assistance. Ruby told Farraj that she had won $88. Farraj later learned that Ruby had taken and cashed in her ticket approximately one month after he assisted her with the machine. Farraj sued Ruby and Circle K Stores Inc., alleging conversion. Circle K argued that the supervisor was acting outside the scope of his employment, but the jury found the defendants jointly and severally liable. Farraj v. Circle K (Los Angeles County)

A property manager was hit with a $883,962 verdict for fire loss suffered by three businesses. Safco Capital Corp., which managed the Pedley Square complex, used a power washer to clean a sign owned by a hair salon. Two days later, a short circuit in the sign caused a fire which caused damage to the salon and then swept through the complex, destroying a florist and a laundromat. The tenants contended that Safco had been warned that power-washing the sign could short-circuit it. The Riverside County jury found Safco liable. Reno v. Safco Capital Corp. (Riverside County)