Circuit Court Judge Leroy Moe of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said on Monday he was considering imposing a fine for attorney fees and trial costs, after he ruled that Motorola had willfully violated court orders during a $10bn trial late last year.
The lawsuit against Motorola was filed by SPS Technologies Corp, a company that is no longer in existence. SPS used to be based in Fort Lauderdale and sold a vehicle-tracking device. Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola looked at forming a joint venture with SPS in early 2000. However, a joint product was never developed and Motorola pulled out of the venture later the same year.
SPS sued Motorola in 2002 claiming that it had stolen its trade secrets when it rolled out a number of products that allegedly incorporated SPS’s technology. SPS sought at least $10bn in damages in the lawsuit.
Four years later in October 2006 the case eventually reached court. The trial concluded on November 27 when a mistrial was declared after the jury could not agree on a verdict.
However, it came to the attention of Judge Moe that Motorola had placed experts on the stand who had read other witnesses’ testimony. Specifically, Motorola’s expert witnesses had read the testimony of SPS’s expert witness before they then took the stand to rebut SPS’s case.
This violated the witness sequestration order Judge Moe had imposed in October, so that witnesses would not be influenced by the statements of others.
On Monday Judge Moe ruled that Motorola had willfully violated court orders and prejudiced the plaintiff’s case. He also said sanctions against Motorola were in order. But he rejected SPS’s motion for a directed verdict in the lawsuit, leaving the very really prospects of a retrial. If there is to be a retrial, the two Motorola expert witnesses that saw the transcripts of SPS’s witnesses testimony would be barred from testifying.
Lawyers for SPS have asked Moe to fine Motorola $118m in sanctions, $11m in attorney fees, and $7m in costs. The amount of attorney fees, costs, and sanctions to be levied against Motorola will be determined in a later hearing.
The court decision is the second piece on bad news for Motorola in the past week. Last Friday the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker warned that lower sales and earnings in its handset division would cause it to miss fourth-quarter forecasts for both revenue and profit.
