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Federal jury awards $120M to coal company…
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Federal jury awards $120M to coal company in defamation, RICO suit against lawyer
January 21, 2026, 11:00 am CST
An Alabama federal jury returned a $120 million verdict Thursday against a former Conrad & Scherer managing partner as part of a defamation and racketeering lawsuit against the attorney. (Image from Shutterstock)
An Alabama federal jury returned a $120 million verdict Thursday against a former Conrad & Scherer managing partner as part of a defamation and racketeering lawsuit against the attorney, according to a story by by Law360.
A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama awarded the Drummond Co., a coal company based in Birmingham, Alabama, $26 million in compensatory and $26 million in punitive damages against attorney Terrence Collingsworth on the defamation claims and $68 million on the claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, according to the story.
Because of the trebling of damages under the RICO statute, the award will end up totaling $256 million, according to the Drummond Co.’s attorneys at Starnes Davis Florie, the story said.
Collingsworth, a managing partner of Florida-based Conrad & Scherer’s Washington, D.C., office from 2008 through 2015, began filing suits in 2002 alleging that the Drummond Co. paid a paramilitary group that provided security to murder three union leaders in Colombia, according to Law360. Many of the suits have been dismissed.
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