Sep. 12, 2013
Stephen C. Neal
See more on Stephen C. NealCooley LLP | Palo Alto | Practice type: Litigation
Neal is representing Meg Whitman, the high-profile CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., in a series of lawsuits arising from the company's 2011 acquisition of Autonomy, a British software company.
Last year, HP wrote off more than $8 billion of the $11 billion acquisition price and disclosed it had been a victim of fraud by Autonomy's founders. The shareholders are accusing Whitman and others of securities fraud related to the deal. Riccardi v. Lynch et al, CV12-06003 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 27, 2012).
"The notion that the HP board did anything intentionally wrong, reckless or negligent is ludicrous," Neal said. "I guarantee that a huge amount of time and money will be spent on litigating the issue, with little value to the shareholders ultimately. It will play out for a couple of years or longer."
While there has been no talk of settlement at this point, Neal said, "Historically, these kinds of cases almost always get resolved before going to trial."
In another significant matter, Neal is representing Qualcomm Inc. in a patent infringement action brought by ParkerVision Inc. in the Middle District of Florida. ParkerVision Inc. v. Qualcomm Inc., CV11-00719 (M.D. Fla., filed July 20, 2011).
ParkerVision is accusing more than 70 Qualcomm products of infringing more than 80 claims from six patents, all relating to RF down-conversion technology.
The trial is set for October.
"The technology is pretty complicated," Neal said. "It presents this great challenge of figuring out how to take this complicated technology and make it accessible to a bunch of jurors. You don't want to do this through sleight of hand, but by persuading them that you are on the right side of it."
Neal also is representing the Korean-based Kolon Industries in an indictment filed in the Eastern District of Virginia by the Department of Justice, alleging theft of trade secrets from the DuPont Co. USA v. Kolon Industries, CR12-00137 (E.D. Va., filed Aug. 21, 2012).
Among his challenges in the ongoing case, Neal is trying to get the judge to recuse himself over a potential conflict of interest, while raising a thorny legal issue.
"We've been challenging the adequacy of serving the company," he said. "It doesn't have a place of business in the U.S., and there is a question of whether you can force a non-U.S. company with no U.S. offices to appear in court to answer criminal charges."
- PAT BRODERICK
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