St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) was awarded $2.3 billion in damages
by a California court jury that found a former employee and a
Chinese firm liable for stealing trade secrets, the Star Tribune of
Minneapolis reported online late Monday.
Yongning Zou was an engineer for Pacesetter Inc., a Sylmar,
Calif., subsidiary of Minneapolis-based St. Jude that makes cardiac
devices. The company accused Zou of downloading confidential
technical data and trying to use it when he formed Nervicon Co., a
medical-device maker in China, in June 2009, just two weeks before
quitting his job at Pacesetter.
In their judgment Friday, jurors in Los Angeles Superior Court
went beyond St. Jude's request for $1.2 billion in damages, instead
awarding $947 million in compensatory damages against Zou and
Nervicon, along with $868.5 million for future economic loss and
$500 million for punitive damages.
"We did not expect such a high damages result and we were
pleased with the outcome," company lawyer Rita Bojalian told the
Star Tribune.
Zou couldn't be reached to comment Monday, the newspaper
said.
According to the website Law360.com, Judge Ruth Kwan scheduled a
May 26 hearing on St. Jude's arguments for a permanent injunction
against Zou and Nervicon, and to consider awarding punitive damages
on a claim of misappropriation against Zou. She could add $1.9
billion to the jury's award, raising it to $4.2 billion, or reduce
the total award.
Full story at
http://www.startribune.com/business/120660469.html
Website: www.law360.com
-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900