ESM’s auditors lost a federal lawsuit.

A federal jury rejected arguments that one partner in a national accounting firm was solely responsible for misleading audits of the failed ESM Government Securities Inc. The jury awarded $70.9 million to court-appointed trustees of the defunct Fort Lauderdale, Fla., securities dealer. By pretrial agreement, however, Alexander Grant & Co., now known as Grant Thornton, will have to pay only about 51% of the award, or about $36 million. Ninety-five percent of the money will go to the State of Ohio, which paid off depositors of ESM’s largest creditor, Home State Savings Bank of Cincinnati, when it failed days after ESM’s March, 1985, collapse.