Chicago Sun-Times 02-01-2000 (Power Outage)
Plaintiffs to seek punitive damages from ComEd
Plaintiffs suing Commonwealth Edison for damage caused by last summer’s three major blackouts here were permitted Monday to amend their class action complaint to seek punitive damages against the utility. Attorney Thomas Zimmerman said Circuit Judge Ellis E. Reid’s decision to permit the revision opens the door for plaintiffs to ask a jury for damages that punish ComEd for “negligence and intentional misconduct.” But lawyer Thomas J. McCarthy, representing ComEd, called Monday’s action “routine.”