St. Louis County Jury Awards $109 Million After Supplier Sold Asphalt Company Wrong Base Rock

Gleeson Asphalt, a St. Louis-area contractor, started noticing a problem shortly after finishing two surface parking lots: the asphalt was rutting prematurely and the jobs would have to be redone from scratch. Digging into why, Gleeson found the cause in the material beneath the pavement. The base rock it had ordered from LaFarge North America and paid for as 'type 5' -- an industry-standard gradation designed to anchor and support asphalt -- was not type 5 at all. LaFarge had shipped a lower-quality material and labeled it as something it was not.

Gleeson filed suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court in 2019 (case no. 19SL-CC01033), alleging that LaFarge's misrepresentation caused the lot failures and left Gleeson absorbing the cost of remediation and lost profits from the damaged jobs.

Simon Law attorney Kevin M. Carnie Jr. led the case to trial along with colleague Patrick R. McPhail. Over four days before St. Louis County Judge David Vincent, the Simon team laid out exactly what the failures had cost Gleeson: the price of rebuilding the lots plus the profits Gleeson never collected. On May 15, 2025, the jury deliberated for two hours before returning a unanimous verdict in Gleeson's favor on all six counts.

The jury awarded $942,935.95 in compensatory damages, representing Gleeson's actual losses, and then added $108.3 million in punitive damages, finding that LaFarge's conduct warranted punishment beyond mere reimbursement. The total came to $109,242,935.95. Carnie noted afterward that the compensatory figure matched the damages request 'to the penny.' No remittitur or reduction has been reported.

The result was the fourth nine-figure verdict Simon Law had secured in less than two years.