No link, I'm working from memory here, but perhaps you've heard about the massive $11.9 billion jury award the state of Alabama just got from Exxon-Mobil. The lawsuit was about fraud in state natural gas contracts or something. The interesting thing is not the size of the award (which is likely to come down considerably... that's how there "punitive damage" jury awards usually work), but the process that led up to it.
A few years ago (1999, I think) the state of Alabama began to suspect that it was being bilked by Exxon-Mobil, and they filed a civil suit to recover damages. They won that suit, and the jury awarded the state $3.5 billion, including compensatory and punitive damages, but Exxon-Mobil appealed. They argued, successfully, that the jury never should have been allowed to see a particular Exxon-Mobil memo. I don't know the details, but the evidence rules are serious business. If the jury made their decision based, even in part, of information they shouldn't have been given, it puts the whole judgment in question. A new trial was ordered, and the $3.5 billion judgment was voided.
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