NL Industries Hit With $179 Million Jury Verdict

A Dallas jury returned a $178.7 million verdict against NL Industries, subsidiary NL Environmental Services and NL CEO Harold Simmons in a contracts case on Friday. The award included $33.7 million in actual damages, $140 million in punitive damages against NL Industries and $5 million in punitive damages against NL's general counsel. The plaintiffs -- minority shareholders in the NL subsidiary -- claimed that NL had improperly stripped the subsidiary of its assets and reduced the value of their shares tenfold.