Oooh, tough loss for Jack Scarola, a mucho-fine trial lawyer:

A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., jury on Wednesday ordered accounting giant Ernst & Young to pay $10.2 million on a negligent auditing claim, rejecting a request for $400 million on more serious allegations.

The verdict, reached after less than two days of deliberations, eliminated the possibility of a punitive damage award in the trial before Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld.

I don't like trials in July. The judges are cranky, the jurors distracted, and no one wants to pay too much attention between the rain, the heat, and the vacations either taken or planned.

And while these cases are exceptionally tough to prove or even get past motion practice and to a jury, congrats to Barry Richard for putting another notch on the belt.