Following a long afternoon of opening statements in a trial against The Dow Chemical Co., a federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., took the lawyers to task for boring the jury. One juror, according to a court transcript, was reduced to tears. “About halfway through the plaintiffs’ opening statement, those people tuned out,” U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum said. “Other people literally went to sleep for awhile.”
The plaintiffs’ lead trial counsel, Joseph Goldberg — who did not deliver opening statements — did more than redeem the case. On Feb. 20, 2013, following a month of trial, the jury awarded more than $400 million to his three clients, who represented a class of about 2,400 companies that purchased the chemical urethane, used in everything from mattress pads to car seats. Lungstrum trebled that amount, as required under the federal antitrust law.
