Virginia Business Law Update : Virginia Business Lawyers & Attorneys : PCT Law Group : Litigation Defenses, Contract Disputes, Business Formation : Northern Virginia, Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria

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According to a Virginia Lawyers Weekly survey on the largest Virginia jury verdicts in 2010, verdicts in business disputes lawsuits claimed three of the top four positions.

The top Virginia jury verdict in 2010 was awarded by an Alexandria federal court jury for $26 million in the case of In Re: Outsidewall Tire Litigation. In this case, a tire-mining inventor prevailed in a lawsuit in which he alleged that a Chinese tire manufacturer and a Dubai tire distributor conspired to steal trade secrets and infringe on the inventor’s copyrights and trademarks. 

In third place on the survey was the case of Humanscale Corp. v. CompX International, Inc., in which two leading companies in the field of ergonomic office products accused each other of patent infringement with respect to keyboard support systems. A Richmond federal court jury awarded the defendant $19 million in past damages and a royalty of 6% of future sales on the defendant’s counterclaims.

Coming in fourth place on the list of the top Virginia jury verdicts of 2010 was the matter of Perot Systems Government Services Inc. v. 21st Century Systems Inc. In this business case, which was tried in state court, the plaintiff alleged that two of its former employees copied confidential information when they joined the defendant company’s new government contracting division. A Fairfax County jury awarded the plaintiff $14.12 million for the defendants’ breach of fiduciary duty, breach of a non-disclosure agreement, breach of a non-solicitation agreement, tortious interference with a contract, violation of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, violation of the Virginia Business Conspiracy Act, common law conspiracy, violation of the Virginia Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and conversion.

To participate in the Virginia Lawyers Weekly survey, the verdict must have been: for at least $1 million; returned by a jury in Virginia (not a judge); and during the calendar year 2010. In total, there were 22 Virginia court cases included on the survey, of which 16 of the verdicts were personal injury actions.