Boeing Plans To Fight $2M Verdict For Breached Bid Deal
By Rick Archer
Law360 (March 20, 2020, 7:01 PM EDT) -- The Boeing Co. on Friday said it intends to ask an Alabama federal judge to stay enforcement of a $2.1 million verdict for breach of contract with a now-defunct aircraft maintenance company, saying it plans to appeal what it claims are legal errors in the case.
Responding to a motion by Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc. — formerly known as Pemco — asking for entry of a judgment on the March 2 jury verdict, Boeing said it intends to both file for a stay of execution and an appeal of the verdict.
"Boeing does not consent to the entry of any judgment against it for all of the reasons previously stated on the record, including, among other things, that the jury’s verdict is based on improper jury instructions, inadmissible evidence and claims on which Boeing is due judgment as a matter of law," it said.
AAI sued Boeing in 2011, shortly after Pemco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, alleging that Boeing was directly responsible for the bankruptcy by stealing trade secrets and pulling strings with corrupt Air Force officials to cut AAI out of the $1.3 billion plane servicing contract that its survival depended on.
Pemco claimed it provided Boeing with proprietary information under a 2005 agreement to jointly bid on the contract, only to have Boeing pull out of the deal and use the information to win the contract despite submitting a bid $15 million higher than Pemco’s.
Earlier this month, a jury awarded AAI nearly $800,000 for a violation of the bidding agreement and another $1.3 million for a violation of a nondisclosure agreement.
Boeing's motion Friday did not give additional specifics about its objections to the verdict, but at trial U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor denied a motion arguing the jury should not be instructed that it could "draw an adverse inference" from the deletion of information related to the case from a Boeing employee's computer. Boeing said AAI had failed to establish that the information was intentionally deleted or that Boeing could have reasonably anticipated litigation over the contract.
Counsel for Boeing and AAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
AAI is represented by J. Michael Rediker, Joshua D. Lerner, R. Scott Williams, Peter J. Tepley, Meredith Jowers Lees and Rebecca A. Beers of Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell PC and Laurie Webb Daniel of Holland & Knight LLP.
Boeing is represented by R. Thomas Warburton and J. Thomas Richie of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and Craig S. Primis, Erin C. Johnston, Kasdin Miller Mitchell and Alexia Brancato of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
The case is Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc. et al. v. The Boeing Co. et al., case number 2:11-cv-03577, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
--Additional reporting by Kevin Penton and Sarah Martinson. Editing by Stephen Berg.
