$5b �Margaret Cronin Fisk, with Jef Feeley $21b

claims. Randall Jackson, a former federal prosecutor in New York who represents the two, says the evidence “clearly indicates GM was at fault here.”

The carmaker stands a good chance of winning the case, according to several product-liability experts. The judge has ruled out the possibility of punitive damages, designed to punish a company for misconduct, which will limit any potential jury award. “If I was a defense lawyer, I’d be running to the court to try this case,” Langdon says.

Waikiki has built Turkey’s most successful fashion brand by selling styles that appeal to observant Muslims without alienating secular buyers. The chain’s lineup is “very appropriate for the sensibility of conservative customers,” says Maria Comfort, Waikiki’s head of merchandising and a veteran of U.S. brands Wet Seal and Hot Topic. “We are unique in targeting the wardrobe needs of a broad range of people.”

Founded in France in 1985, named for a Hawaiian beach, and reinvented in Turkey by conservative Muslim owners, Waikiki is crushing local and foreign rivals in the Turkish fast-fashion market. It has almost four times the share of its closest competitor and says 80 percent of the country’s consumers have visited its stores, a penetration approaching that of Walmart Stores in the U. S. After blanketing Turkey with outlets, Waikiki seven years ago began a push abroad, mostly into Russia, the Gulf states, and Central Asia. The company has 413 locations in Turkey and almo almost 200 in cities as farflung a as Algiers, Baku, and Tehran Tehran. This year, Waikiki says it inte intends to open more than 30 outle outlets in its home country and 100 abroad. “We’ve tak taken our mission of ‘everyon one deserves to dress well’ be beyond the borders of our co country,” Chairman Vahap K Kucuk said in an e-mail.

Like Walmart, Waikiki is famously inexpensive— a pair of women’s jeans sells for as little as 27 lira ($10)—which helps draw young shoppers and those who might otherwise ch choose knockoff apparel at ou outdoor bazaars. Even as Tu Turkey’s economy faltered las last year, Waikiki’s revenue

Merck Vioxx Thousands of lawsuits were filed in the mid-2000s after researchers linked Vioxx to a higher risk of heart attacks. Merck lost the first case to go to trial and was ordered to pay more than $250 million. In 2007 it set up a $5 billion settlement fund. Wyeth Fen-phen Wyeth pulled the appetite suppressant off the market in 1997 because of links to heart valve damage. In 1999 it settled or lost the first five cases to go to trial. A 2004 case resulted in a $1 billion verdict. All told, Wyeth paid $21 billion in litigation costs.