Briefcase: Jury awards damages in 'Engle' progeny case

Jury awards damages in 'Engle' progeny case

A jury has awarded compensatory and punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA in an "Engle" progeny case.

The Engle cases have been scrutinized since they sprang from a decision in 2006 by the Florida Supreme Court that decertified a class-action lawsuit initially filed by Howard Engle. The 2006 ruling allowed former class members to file individual lawsuits stating that cigarettes caused their respective illnesses.

The cases involve consumers who smoked before a law went into effect requiring warning labels on cigarette packaging. In most Engle suits, the plaintiff bears some of the responsibility for their illness or death, which reduces compensatory and punitive damages to manufacturers.

The Gainesville jury this week awarded the family of John Huish $750,000 in compensatory damages, placing 50 percent of the responsibility on Huish and 25 percent each on Reynolds and Philip Morris. As a result, the compensatory damages award will be reduced by 50 percent.

Each manufacturer was ordered to pay $1.5 million in punitive damages.

Reynolds plans to appeal the decisions, spokesman David Howard said.

Of the 35 Engle trials that have reached a jury verdict since February 2009, 24 have been plaintiff victories, according to Edward Sweda Jr., a senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law.

Richard Craver

Piedmont Community to buy stake in Crescent

Piedmont Community Bank Holdings said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Crescent State Bank of Cary for $75 million.

The deal will provide an infusion of new capital into Crescent's corporate parent, Crescent Financial Corp.

One sign of the bank's capital needs emerged Wednesday when Crescent said it would delay paying its quarterly cash dividend to the U.S. Treasury, an obligation it acquired when it accepted stimulus money from the federal government. The bank can delay those dividend payments for six quarters without penalty.

Locally, Bank of the Carolinas and Southern Community Financial Corp. have also deferred their dividend payments to the U.S. Treasury.

Piedmont Community is run by Scott Custer, the former chief executive of RBC Bank. Crescent has 15 branches, mostly in the Triangle, and $973 million in assets.

From staff and wire reports

Fresh Market still interested in High Point

The Fresh Market Inc. continues to show interest in High Point as a location for a grocery store as the company reports ambitious growth plans for this year.

High Point advocates for bringing Fresh Market back to the city have campaigned for more than a year to persuade the company to return. Fresh Market had a location north of downtown from the early 1980s through the early 1990s.

On Wednesday, Fresh Market said it plans to open 12 to 14 new stores during its 2011 fiscal year. Though its report doesn't mention High Point, the company remains interested in the city.

"High Point is a growing and vibrant area, and we'll continue to look at it as we think about our expansion plans," said Chief Financial Officer Lisa Klinger.

McClatchy-Tribune

Session set to discuss Capital Access Program

The N.C. Rural Economic Development Center will hold an information session in Winston-Salem today related to the N.C. Capital Access Program.

In September, Congress passed the federal Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which provided North Carolina with $46.1 million toward boosting business and job growth through the program. The center will administer the program throughout the state.

The session is aimed at explaining the program's potential, and how it will work, to bankers, business leaders and business-service providers.

The Winston-Salem session will be held at 12:30 p.m. in the West campus auditorium of Forsyth Technical Community College, 1300 Bolton St.

Richard Craver

Ex-mortgage executive pleads guilty to fraud

The former treasurer of what had been one of the country's largest privately held mortgage lenders has pleaded guilty to a nearly $2 billion fraud conspiracy that authorities say contributed to the company's failure.

Desiree Brown of Hernando, Fla., faces up to 30 years when she is sentenced in June. She was an executive at Taylor, Bean and Whitaker of Florida, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

Prosecutors say the scheme included an attempt to defraud the federal government's Troubled Assets Relief Program out of $570 million. The former chief executive of the company, Lee Bentley Farkas, is scheduled to go on trial in April.

The Associated Press

GM has a banner year but faces bumps ahead

In a remarkable financial U-turn, once-bankrupt General Motors recorded its first profitable year since 2004 and is tantalizingly close to reclaiming its title as the world's No. 1 automaker.

The company faces a bumpy road ahead: Gas prices are rising, GM has only a few new models, and its European operations are still losing money. Still, the automaker's $4.7 billion profit for 2010 was impressive.

The company lost more than $80 billion in the five years before its bankruptcy and needed a government bailout to survive. It emerged in the summer of 2009, returned to the stock market in November, and managed to make money even with auto sales near historic lows.

The Associated Press

Freddie Mac's loss narrows in last quarter

Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac managed a narrower loss of $1.7 billion for the October-December quarter of last year.

But it has asked for an additional $500 million in federal aid — up from the $100 million it sought in the previous quarter. Freddie Mac also posted a $19.8 billion loss for all of 2010.

The government rescued Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. It estimates the bailouts will cost taxpayers as much as $259 billion.

The Associated Press