Business leaders have clashed for years with lawyers and consumer groups over the legitimacy of multimillion-dollar awards in a range of lawsuits.

The punitive damages, often awarded for the intangible qualities of "pain and suffering," are typically the large component in multimillion-dollar headline-grabbing awards.

Merck has now lost three of the five lawsuits to reach juries, and each of the losses has involved multimillion-dollar awards for the plaintiffs.

In some cases, women who said that leaking silicone had caused crippling illnesses that resembled lupus or rheumatoid arthritis had received multimillion-dollar awards.

In view of the multimillion-dollar awards by juries in recent cases of patent infringement, submarine patents are one of a corporation's worst fears.

Companies Weapons manufacturers are pressing for legislation to limit the ability of whistle-blowers in Government fraud cases to collect multimillion-dollar awards.

Today's Columns Support is growing for new Federal legislation that would make it harder for plaintiffs to win multimillion-dollar awards in medical malpractice suits.

The problem is not so much the multimillion-dollar awards, although they can be expensive, but the sheer number of relatively small complaints, settlements or awards for tens of thousands each.

It has made some multimillion-dollar awards to Iran against American businesses, and Iran is trying to enforce those judgments in United States courts.

It was the kind of ruling that used to bring multimillion-dollar awards.