Liability, awards & settlements

24. 6, wrongful death, award

US: the family of a 12-year-old boy who was electrocuted at a bus stop shelter was awarded $65.1mn in a civil trial against the outdoor advertising company that built and wired the structure. A Florida jury decided that Phoenix-based Eller Media must pay $4.1mn in compensatory damages and $61mn in punitive damages. Attorneys for the family of Jorge Luis Cabrera said he died after stepping on an electrical conduit at the bus stop in October 1998. Eller Media and one of its workers were cleared in 2001 of criminal charges in the boy's death. The company has said the boy was likely struck by lightning the night of his death.