The Associated Press reports that a Florida jury awarded financier Ron Perelman $850 million in punitive damages Wednesday, two days after it found against the New York investment firm of Morgan Stanley for $604 million in actual damages, for not telling Perelman that Sunbeam was about to declare bankruptcy.
Perelman lost millions when he sold his company Coleman to Sunbeam in 1998 in exchange for Sunbeam stock. Shortly after the sale was completed, the company filed for bankruptcy.
Sunbeam, now a part of the Jarden Corporation, has a plant in Neosho.
In its Tuesday edition, The New York Post said Morgan Stanley had turned down an earlier deal to settle the case for $36 million.