Mayo Mallette attorneys part of team that won $25+ million jury verdict

Cal Mayo and Kate Embry were members of a team that won a jury verdict of more than $25 million after a Hinds County Circuit Court trial that lasted more than two months. 

Kuhlman Electric Corporation (KEC) sued several insurance companies for failure to defend and indemnify KEC against personal injury and property damage actions filed after discovery of PCB and TCA/solvent contamination at KEC’s facility in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, in 2000. The underlying personal injury and property damage litigation ended in 2015. The insurance coverage litigation began in 2007. KEC settled before trial with all carriers other than The Travelers Indemnity Company.

Retired Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson was assigned in 2022 as the Special Circuit Judge to preside over the action.

The trial against Travelers began on February 3, 2023, with juror qualification at the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson. The trial then moved to the Penthouse Ballroom at the Jackson Hilton on County Line Road for jury selection and several weeks of trial. The final few weeks of trial took place at the Advocacy Center at Mississippi College School of Law.

Closing arguments occurred on April 11. On April 13, the jury returned a verdict in favor of KEC for $25,242,812. This award represented the total amount sought by KEC for each of three claims: $7,209,733 for breach of the duty to defend, $14,288,373 for breach of the duty to indemnify for TCA solvent contamination, and $3,744,706 for breach of the duty to indemnify for PCB contamination. The jury found a 40% reduction on the damages awarded for breach of the duty to indemnify for PCB contamination, leaving a net verdict on that claim of $2,246,823.60.

Before entering a final judgment, the Court will consider briefing on the allocation of the amounts awarded based on Travelers policies at issue (1966-77) and based on the liability limits for those policies.