A multi-year legal battle between Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and former Illinois dealer Kempner Mobile Electronics Inc. could be coming to an end as a jury again sided with Kempner in a ruling last week that followed a similar judgement from a separate jury trial last November. Both juries found Cingular guilty of fraud and tortuous interference in their dealings with Kempner.
The judge in the case ordered Cingular to pay Kempner nearly $22,000 in damages related to customers lost to Cingular, but ordered Kempner to pay more than $125,000 for equipment received from Cingular. The judge also denied Kempner’s request for a jury to rule on punitive damages though Kempner owner Scott Kempner said he is planning to appeal the judgement.
“Kempner is planning on appealing the judge’s ruling that foreclosed Kempner’s ability to present the punitive damage question to the jury as well as the judge’s ruling that foreclosed Kempner’s abilities to prevent evidence of damages sustained as a result of Cingular’s fraud and tortuous interference, which a jury ruled twice in Kempner’s favor,” Kempner said in a statement.
Kempner was originally seeking $25 million in punitive damages.
Cingular said in a statement that it had mixed feelings about the ruling.
“While Cingular Wireless respectfully disagrees with the jury’s verdict, we are very pleased with the overall outcome and the court’s decision that punitive damages are not warranted in this case,” said Cingular spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock in a statement. “The court has agreed that this dispute is, at its core, no more than a simple business disagreement.”
Kempner’s claims against Cingular date back several years when Kempner originally filed a lawsuit alleging Cingular was stealing his customers by telling them they could only receive financial discounts on handsets if they were ordered directly through Cingular and not through Kempner’s retail store.
Kempner eventually took his grievances to Cingular’s door, hiring a mobile billboard company to drive around the carrier’s Atlanta headquarters with a sign underlining his case against Cingular. The billboard also requested inside information from Cingular employees pertaining to the operator’s alleged plans to put independent agents out of business.
Kempner won the original jury trial that took place last November including Kempner’s claim of fraud and tortuous interference with perspective economic advantage, as well as counterclaims relating to accounts receivable for equipment and Cingular’s claim that Kempner broke their contractual agreement by selling competing wireless services.
Cingular asked for and received a second jury trial on Kempner’s tortuous interference and equipment receivable claims that Kempner again won earlier this month. The judge had originally approved a jury decision on punitive damages in June, but cited a lack of sufficient evidence that Cingular acted with intent to benefit from its dealings with Kempner in his recent decision, denying Kempner’s request for a jury to decide on punitive damages.
