Jury awards additional $15 million to Caruso

A jury awarded developer Rick Caruso $15 million in punitive damages Tuesday on his claim that the owner of the Glendale Galleria illegally threatened a restaurant chain to prevent it from moving into Caruso’s competing complex.

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found that the Galleria’s owner, General Growth Properties, engaged in “fraud, malice and oppression” to undermine Caruso Affiliated’s Americana at Brand retail-and-residential center in Glendale.

It awarded Caruso $74 million in compensatory damages.

In a suit filed three years ago, Caruso alleged that General Growth tried to stop the Cheesecake Factory from signing a lease with his company by threatening the restaurant chain’s leases in General Growth malls. Chicago-based General Growth has more than 200 malls in 45 states.

On Tuesday, Caruso called the jury award “a vindication.”

“It’s good for the industry,” said Caruso, former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission who developed the Grove, the outdoor mall next to Farmers Market in Los Angeles.

“Even though you’re a large company, you shouldn’t be able to stop competition,” Caruso said.

The $400-million Americana at Brand, which will include 338 condominiums and apartments and about 75 retailers and restaurants, including the Cheesecake Factory, is scheduled to open in late April, Caruso said.