Finstad v. W.R. Grace & Co.

¶1 Kenneth R. Finstad and Edith L. Finstad, husband and wife (Finstads), filed suit against W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. (W.R. Grace) in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court, Lincoln County. A jury trial resulted in a verdict in favor of the Finstads, awarding $400,000 in compensatory damages and determining that an award of punitive damages was warranted. Immediately thereafter, the District Court conducted a mini-trial regarding the award of punitive damages. At the conclusion of the punitive damage mini-trial, the jury, by a vote of eight to four, awarded the Finstads punitive damages in the…