houseman was on a nearly year-long cruise aboard holland america's flagship "ms amsterdam." attorney says he suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury. and investigating the case his attorney says he discovered something stunning. >> 34 other incidents of sliding automatic doors hitting passengers. >> reporter: the jury was able to hear about 16 of those incidents. perhaps why they awarded haasman 5 million for pain and suffering and over 16 million as punitive damages against holland america. whose promotional video boasts -- >> a greeting that will make you feel like an honored friend. >> reporter: but during the trial the hausmans became foes. the family furious the cruise line surveyed the family before the trial, even shooting video of their 12-year-old daughter and showing it in court. in previous suits the cruise line had blamed the passengers for their injuries in sliding doors. in this case it says the judgment was excessive and tells us it plans to appeal. matt gutman, abc news, los angeles. >> what do you think? >> it's an unbelievable amount of money for

housman was on a nearly year-long cruise aboard holland america's flagship, "ms amsterdam."orney says he suffered a concussion and a traumatic brain injury. and investigating the cases, his attorney says he discovered something stunning. >> 34 other incidents of sliding automatic doors hitting passengers. >> reporter: the jury was able to hear about 16 of those incidents, perhaps why they awarded housman $5 million for pain and suffering and over $16 million as punitive damages against holland america. whose promotional video boasts -- >> greeting that will make you feel like an honored friend. >> reporter: but during the trial, the housmans became foes. the family furious the cruise line surveyed the family before the trial, even shooting video of their 12-year-old daughter and showing it in court. in previous cases, the cruise line had blamed passengers for their injuries with sliding doors. in this case, it says is the judgment was excessive and tells us it plans to appeal. david? >> matt gutman tonight. thank you, matt. >>> when we come back here, the v.a. back in the ne

awarded housman $5 million for pain and suffering and over $16 million as punitive damages against holland americapromotional video boepss -- >> greeting that will make you feel like an honored friend. >> reporter: b during the trial, the housmans became foes. the family fur youls the cruise line surveyed the family before the trial, even shooting video of their 12-year-old daughter and showing it in court. in previous cases, the cruise line has blamed passengers for their injuries in sliding doors. in this case, it says is the judgment was excessive and tells us it plans to appeal. david? >> matt gutman tonight. thank you, matt. >>> when we come back here, the v.a. back in the news tonight, amid calls to better serve our veterans. the new outrage over the bonuses being handed out. >>> also, the christmas sweater backlash. some saying the message is supposed to be funny, o.c.d. what they say it stands for and why some aren't laughing tonight. >>> and the big controvsy over the very simple starbucks coffee cup this christmas season, now dunkin' donuts entering the fray with a very different cup. ma

. >> reporter: aboard holland america's "ms amstererdam." his concussion and alleged brain injury worth $21 million according to a federal jury awarding hausman the sum after a nine-day trtrial. >> he has memory problems. he has seizures now. >> reporter: but this morning the cruise line saying it'll appeal. in a statement calling the judgment excessive. but in the trial hausman's attorney argued that his concussi was one of possibly dozens of other sliding door injuries aboard holland america's ships. >> 34 other incidents of sliding automatic doors hitting passengers. >> reporter: those other incidents, one awarded him $5 million in injury damages and $16.5 million in punitive damages. hausmaman's wif said she'd instantly swap that money to have her old husband back. for "good morning america," matt gutman abcnews, los angeles. >> okay, let's talk to dan abrams about this right now. $21.5 million. too much? >> it's nuts. i mean $21.5 million for this sort of injury is excessive. i think the cruise company is right. w, that doesn't mean he

. >> holland america cruiseline plans to appeal a $21 million award that was given to a passenger injured its ships. i'll show you the incident. watch as the door slams into the temple of 61-year-old james houseman. houseman's attorney says the springfield illinois man suffered a concussion and a brain injury that to produgs the judgment. the company at the center of a lawsuit for alleged mispackaged birth control pills say it's found only one defective pack that was given to a patient. the pills from endo farm soout kals resulted in unwanted pregnancies. it claims the pills were packed in the wrong order. claiming that placebo pills were taken at the wrong time of the month. >> a tycoon shelled out big bucks for this flawless diamond. wait until you hear who he bought it for. >> a beautiful view from emoryville camera. you'll be able to enjoy some more sun before the weekend rain arrives. i'll have more coming um. >> a live look at the afternoon commute. we swung the camera arnold. this is a different vantage point at 101 in san joses the cars slow lif aproechl the 880 interchange there.

the 61-year-old says he suffered concussion after the incident and holland america's ms amsterdam. his attorney says this is one of other possibly sliding door injuries aboard the ships. >> 34 other incidents of sliding automatic doors hitting passengers. >> he has memory problems. he has seizures now. >> well, you can see what it did there. may not seem like a lot. but again, he's saying it did. the cruise line says it will appeal the federal jury's excessive. >>> the vatican is putting the finishing touches on pope francis' planned visit to mexico. an official in mexico says the pope will visit mexico city and at least three additional places. each stop will allow the pontiff to address the issues important to him like poverty and immigration. the trip is expected to take place in mid-february. the vatican will confirm dates and the schedule next month. >>> a birth control mixup. more than 100 women filing a major lawsuit over birth are you happy with your bathroom? i wasn't. but for years, i didn't do anything about it. i thought i didn't have the money, until i learned about ba

it happened on a holland america. he ended up with a minor brain injury and sued the ship's parent company. he was just awarded $21.5 million in the suit. houseman not the only passenger hurt by sliding doors on the ship. >>> doctors say they are getting closer to being able to transplant a uterus. the hope is that it will allow women without a uterus or with a damaged one to still have children. the transplant would only be temporary and would be removed after the woman has a child or two so she can stop taking anti-rejection drugs. eight women from around the country are being screened at possibly be the first recipient of such a donor. >>> a new study has found a jump in the number of children are autism. according to the cdc survey, more than 2% of kids in the u.s. have this disorder. that is about one in 45 kids and that number has doubled from about 1 in 80 kids in previous years. experts say even rates have gone up, there is no clear explanation as to why. >>> a 9-year-old florida boy could face sexual harassme

than $21 million to an illinois businessman hit in the head by an automatic sliding door on a holland america cruise ship. it was captured on security video. his attorneys say the 61-year-old suffered a minor brain injury resulting in memory loss, vertigo and seeizuresseizures. the attorneys oduced evidence that dozens of other passengers had been injured in similar incidents across t t holland america fleet. >>> only once inin blue moon does a beauty like this go on the market. a 12 carat gemstone was sold in geneva wednesday night for $48.5 million. that's said to be an auction record for any gemstone. the hong kong billionaire who bout it p pmptly renamed the gem to the blue moon of josephine, after his 7-year-old daughter. she has a lot to look forward to.. let's go to savannah now. >>> new questions about flu shots. just how effective they are. dr. natalie azar is an nbc medical con trub you tor. doctor, good morning. >> good morning. >> we've been reading these headlines that if you get the flu shot every year, somehow, it is less effective. >> right. >> that makes me think, am i suppos

this morning kerry will meet with francois hollande that america shares in the resolve to defeat extremism. >> coming on the heels of brutal attacks in lebanon, iraq and elsewhere, it is an assault on our collective accepts of reason and purpose. >> kerry also said that the attacks would not dematerial paris from hosting the u.n. climate change conference and than president obama is looking forward to being there himself. our coverage of the attacks on paris and the impact worldwide continuing all morning long. get the latest on americans who escaped on and the student who did not later this half hour. >>> another major headline we're following a suspect charged on with the murder after six bodies were discovered on in rural texas. two victims were found in a travel trailer on land they just bought for camping and hunting. the other four including one child were discovered on in a nearby pond. the suspect william mitchell hudson lived on the adjoining property. prosecutors have not identified a motive. >> we enlisted on the help of the texas rangers and our district attorney. >> a woman wh

the holland-america denying the loss and said they are committed to safety of our guests. $21.5 millionha: really? wow. that is monster settlement. wow. okay. >>> protests across our nation's college campuses sparking questions about first amendment rights on campus. from the university of missouri to yale. now the university of minnesota is getting involved, where students say they have decided they should not be holding any 9/11 remembrance ceremonies on their campus because they are fearful it will promote racism. so there's that. missouri's new interim president speaking bluntly about what he says is systemic racism on campus and throughout his life. he says, quote, it is so subtle. i think women understand it. people with sexual orientation which is not mail centered perspective. i think people of color understand it. folks in power in the majority who never lived it and never experienced it have difficulty understanding the way those who have been minorityized do. talk about that, joining me is lieutenant governor of missouri, peter kinder. good to have you with us. sir. welcome.

evidence that dozen os s of other passengers had been injured in similar incidents across the holland america fleet. >>> only once in a blue moon does a beauty like this go on the market. a 12 karat was sold in geneva wednesday night for $48.5 million. that's said to be an auction record for any gemstone. the billionaire who bought it promptly renamed the gem to the blue moon of josephine, after his 7-year-old daughter. she has a lot to look forward to. let's go to savannah now. >>> new questions about flu shots. just how effective they are. natalie is an nbc medical contributor. doctor, good morning. >> good morning. >> we've been reading these headlines that if you get the flu shot every year, somehow, it is less effective. >> right. >> that makes me think, am i supposed to get my flu shot or not? >> i know. the flu has gotten bad rap this year. we absolutely are recommending the flu shot every year. the study raises questions about flu vavaccination. meaning, could you have antibodies that last year that neutralizes this year's vaccine. even the study authors and we recommend the flu shot

leaders will discuss and as president hollande comes here, he comes to visit a long time partner, strange ally, a country that the united states has called america's oldest ally. president hollande comes with a fairly aggressive stance, wanting real action, wanting to develop cooperation, if not coordination between countries like the united states. he met yesterday with the british prime minister, david cameron, getting assurances that he would try to get parliament onboard. he needs to speak with german chancellor angela merkel and perhaps the most significant meeting to moscow later this week with president putin. he hopes to go to that meeting in russia with the strength of allies supporting him. we can expect president hollande to ask the u.s. for more in telling, also perhaps more resources for arms like rebels on the ground in syria. the u.s. has its own distinct opinions here, and president obama is going to be hesitant to join any formal coalition that involves the russians, because of course the russians and americans want two very different things. there are fundamental differences that are present as part of this meeting today. >> libb

argued that his concussion was one of possibly dozens of other sliding door injuries aboard holland america's ships. >> 34 other incidents of sliding automatic doors hitting passengers. >> reporter: those other incidents, one awarded him $5 million in injury damages and $16.5 million in punitive damages. hausman's wife said she'd instantly swap that money to have her old husband back. for "good morning america," matt gutman, abc news, los angeles. >> okay, let's talk to dan abrams about this right now. $21.5 million. too much? >> it's nuts. i mean $21.5 million for this sort of injury is excessive. i think the cruise company is right. now, that doesn't mean he shouldn't be entitled to recover damages. he should. but even look at the jury's verdict. a million and a half are for current damages. 3.5 are for future damages and then 16.5 are punitive meaning intended to punish -- >> couldn't they argue you need the punitive damages because this happened so many other types in the past. >> that's why. this jury was clearly angry at this company. they were clearly angry and saying, look, you should

either you hit there or you will have held here in europe and america. hollande made that very clear. it is not easy for and middle country like france to take this sort of leadership towards the idea of hitting militarily. him or before him oe for against. it is right. charlie: matt olsen, who is right? matt: it is a very difficult situation. this has been a very complicated situation from over a year ago when isis first really came onto the scene from a counterterrorism perspective. i think in terms of what is happening in syria and iraq, i think the president -- i was in the room with the president in many of these discussions -- there were not many good options in having forces on the ground as peter said that can fill in the kind of military ground force. the option of airstrikes in leading a coalition was clearly the right answer. the problem was of course that is not going to stop isis from being able, on smaller scales or even on a more significant scale we saw in paris, be able to send operatives or inspire operatives to carry out attacks. charlie: tell

hollande came to america, he didn't find the quarterback. mean, the field is empty. >> so now you have to wonder why we're pushing and obviously for very good reasons to get assad out of power. i know the french prior to this meeting were saying, yeah, we want assad out of power, but we want the russians on board going after isis. did this impatience with kicking assad out maybe for very good reasons -- he's killed 300,000 of his people, did -- is that getting in the way of priorities here? should you be utilizing russia right now? maybe jawboning them to push him out of power or all right, we'll work on eventually getting assad out of power, what do you do? >> we have to approach this the same way as world war ii and we have to make allies of countries that we hold our nose to cooperate. that may be russia or may be the hacktivist group anonymous. we will not defeat wit windmills and solar panels and we will not defeat it alone. we will not defeat it with air power. we need everybody. everybody has a role to play. only the united states can

francois hollande meets president obama at the white house and he wants america to use its power in the war on terror. we'll soon find out if hollande gets what he wants. new reports just coming in that canada will say no to male syrian refugees. this is a very big day shaping up. and look at that stock market. it's going to be down triple digits. yes, it's a nervous world this thanksgiving week. "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ all right. turkey blows a russian jet out of the sky, says the jet was flying in its air space. putin says the russian fighter was in syrian territory. putin says its pilot didn't threaten anybody and calls this a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of the terrorists. all right. that happened early this morning. look at dow futures. we're going to be down triple digits. dow futures had been positive until that shoot down occurred and then we fell out of bed. down about 100 points. about 28 minutes from now. putin says this will lead to serious consequences for turkey. walid phares joins us now, good morning. please explain the significance of the sh

america. mr. president -- pres. hollande: ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to thank the president of the united states, barack obama, for the solidarity he has shown immediately as we found out about the terror attacks. he was the first one to call me. it was very late in france, 2:00 a.m., when he called. the president of the united states. he expresses solidarity toward france and his emotions and his compassion. him on that night, he meant to tell me that united states stood by france. that the help that could be provided to france would have no limit on that we had a duty, a joint duty, to pull our forces together and fight terrorism. him i do not forget either all of the american people -- who sent messages over the last couple of days. the french colors, the french flags, all of them in many gatherings, they let candles and places that represent france here in the united states. our national anthem was sung in official ceremonies. it is true that 9/11, we all felt american. but after the 13th of november, american