Here are some items straight from the courtroom that might interest you:

• Benzene exposure leads to $7.5 million jury verdict for truck driver's family. Rick Lewis was a gas tanker driver for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., and he died of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which his family claimed was caused by benzene exposure at work....

• Math doesn't add up for Seattle bank in jury's $2.3 million verdict for shareholders. The jury sided with key bank shareholders in their wrongful termination counterclaims against the bank after it stopped paying Richard and Lou Secord on their work contracts, which paid them each $500,000 per year. The work contracts were part of a deal in which the Secords sold their leasing company to the bank. Richard Secord was also a co-founder of the bank...

• Police stand on "no settlement" policy, so woman recovers $1.38 million from a jury. A 67-year-old woman sued the City of Chicago for battery, false arrest and other claims arising out an incident in which a city police officer shoved her to the floor during an arrest of the woman's daughter...

• No claim too small: Jury awards man $5,000 in lawsuit for excessive force and racial discrimination. Mark Plascensia sought $1 million in damages in his lawsuit for violations of his constitutional rights arising out of an arrest by St. George, Utah police. The arrest took place as Plascensia tried to recover his cell phone, which police found at the scene of a burglarized home. Claims against the city in the lawsuit were dismissed...

• Indiana appeals court upholds jury's $300,000 medical malpractice verdict against "America's Most Wanted" doctor. The Indiana Court of Appeals let the jury's verdict in favor of William Boyer against Dr. Weinberger and others stand. Boyer claimed the doctor failed to inform him of an irregular heart rhythm detected during pre-op tests for a sinus condition. Boyer later learned he suffered from heart failure....

Please see full article below for more information.