Caroline McIntyre And Vince Parrett Win Unanimous Jury Verdict Against Seller Of Technology Manufacturing Company

Caroline McIntyre and Vince Parrett win unanimous jury verdict against In a sharply-contested retrial in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Bergeson, LLP  partners Caroline McIntyre and Vince Parrett represented the Plaintiff – a purchaser of a technology manufacturing company in San Jose –  in trying her claims of breach of contract against the sellers, defendants Tony Tolani and Shalini Tolani, and concealment against Mr. Tolani.  Plaintiff claimed that the Tolanis failed to disclose accurate and complete information to her during due diligence before they sold the manufacturing company to her to inflate the purchase price for their own gain.   While telling Plaintiff at the outset of due diligence in April 2015 that the manufacturing company was positioned for strong and steady growth with long-tenured key customers, the Tolanis withheld that:

• Since April 2015, Mr. Tolani knew that the manufacturing company’s third-largest key customer was being phased out, causing orders to plummet;
• Since 2014 through August 2015, the manufacturing company’s largest key customer complained to Tony Tolani that the manufacturing company’s prices were too high, cancelled orders, and threatened to buy instead from the manufacturing company’s competitors;
• Since January 2013 through August 2015, the manufacturing company’s largest key customer every two weeks sent Open Order Forecast Reports to Tony Tolani where the trend of forecasted quantities severely declined; and
• Tony Tolani is a convicted felon for financial fraud—he misrepresented his previous company’s financial information, inflating its price for gain.

This jury trial win was particularly challenging because Plaintiff, represented by different counsel, had already lost four of her seven claims at a first jury trial that resulted in a mistrial on the remaining claims of concealment and breach of contract.  But Ms. McIntyre and Mr. Parrett were brought in to turn things around—which they did by winning all remaining claims at the retrial for the Plaintiff.

In the retrial, after eight days of trial and several days of deliberations, Ms. McIntyre and Mr. Parrett secured a unanimous jury verdict of concealment and breach of contract against Tony Tolani, and a jury verdict of breach of contract against Mrs. Tolani.  The jury awarded Plaintiff damages in the amount of $577,600 against the Tolanis.  Based on the attorney’s fees clause in the underlying contract, the Tolanis also agreed to pay an additional $775,000 to Plaintiff for attorney’s fees and costs.