land, owners of

In 1956, Spur’s predecessors in interest developed feedlots about ½ mile south of Olive Avenue in an area between the confluence of the usually dry Agua Fria and New Rivers, some 14 to 15 miles west of the urban area of Phoenix. By April and May of 1959, the Northside Hay Mill was feeding between 6,000 and 7,000 head of cattle and Welborn approximately 1,500 head on a combined area of 35 acres. In 1960, Spur purchased the property and expanded the feedlot operation from approximately thirty-five acres to one hundred fourteen acres by 1962, eventually maintaining between twenty thousand and thirty thousand head of cattle at the time of trial. Del E. Webb Development Co. began planning Sun City, a retirement community, in May 1959 after purchasing twenty thousand acres of farmland for fifteen million dollars. Construction of a golf course started that September. Homes were first offered in January 1960. The first residents moved in during 1960. By the time of trial, Sun City had a population of approximately fourteen thousand people, and the development had extended south to within five hundred feet of Spur's feedlot north of Olive Avenue. Residents of Sun City began complaining about odors and flies from the feedlot, which produced over a million pounds of wet manure per day, and Webb encountered sales resistance starting around 1963 in the southwestern portion of the development. Webb attempted to buy the feedlot from Spur but the parties could not agree on a price. Webb then filed suit alleging that the feedlot was a public nuisance because flies and odors drifted over the southern portion of Sun City, rendering in excess of one thousand three hundred lots unfit for residential development. The trial court, after proceedings that included an advisory jury later discharged and special actions in the Arizona Supreme Court, found the feedlot to be a nuisance, permanently enjoined its operation, and awarded damages to Webb. Spur appealed from the injunction and the damages award, while Webb cross-appealed from the trial court's refusal to award attorneys' fees. During the appeal process, Spur agreed to and did shut down its operation without prejudice to the final determination.

Plaintiff sustained serious injuries on November 8, 1964, when the Scout vehicle in which he was a passenger plunged 500 feet down Nine Mile Canyon Road near Mojave, California. The road was dry and twenty feet wide, and the vehicle had been traveling at only ten to fifteen miles per hour. The owner and driver had previously traversed the same road in the Scout without incident. Both the driver and plaintiff suffered retrograde amnesia following the accident and could not testify about its circumstances. Following the accident, it was discovered that the gear box of the Scout had broken. Plaintiff contended that the break occurred on the highway due to metal fatigue in the aluminum 380 material from which the gear box was manufactured, causing the vehicle to go out of control. Defendant asserted that the gear box broke upon impact as the vehicle fell into the canyon and that the accident resulted from driver negligence or collapse of the roadway. At trial, plaintiff presented expert testimony that aluminum 380 was unsuitable for the gear box, that malleable iron was a stronger material, and that defendant had changed to malleable iron in manufacturing the gear box three years after the accident in 1967. Experts also testified regarding two other accidents involving similar failures of aluminum 380 gear boxes in Scout vehicles. The jury returned a verdict awarding plaintiff $700,000. Defendant appealed the judgment, challenging the trial court's admission of evidence regarding the post-accident change in materials, testimony about other accidents, refusal to admit a superseded complaint from a prior trial between the parties, and denial of a motion for mistrial related to hearsay testimony read from the prior proceeding. The matter came before the California Supreme Court on this appeal.

In March 1989 the Exxon Valdez supertanker grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, releasing millions of gallons of crude oil. Exxon Shipping Company, the vessel's owner and now known as SeaRiver Maritime, Inc., together with its parent Exxon Mobil Corporation, confronted widespread liability from the spill. The company settled a class action brought by more than 32,000 commercial fishermen, Native Americans, landowners, and others for $2.5 billion in compensatory damages. Exxon also pleaded guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Refuse Act, paying $150 million in criminal fines, and spent an additional $2.1 billion on cleanup. Respondents, other persons whose businesses and livelihoods were disrupted by the spill, filed this civil action seeking punitive damages. The United States District Court for the District of Alaska divided the plaintiffs into three classes and conducted a three-phase trial. In the first phase the jury found Exxon Shipping Company and Captain Joseph Hazelwood, the ship's master, reckless and therefore potentially liable for punitive damages. In the second phase the jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages against Exxon. The District Court later reduced the punitive award to $2.5 billion. On appeal the Ninth Circuit reinstated the jury's original $5 billion punitive damages award. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider whether the $2.5 billion punitive damages award was excessive under maritime law.