Facts

Plaintiff Todd Kurtin filed suit against defendant Bruce Elieff in relation to a settlement agreement entered into between the two former business partners of a real estate development company.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that defendant breached the parties' $48.8 million agreement when he took improper distributions from their former joint entities and failed to make the remaining $22.5 million settlement payment required by the contract.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The settlement agreement provided that plaintiff be paid $48.8 million. The plaintiff received over $26 million under the settlement agreement but did not receive the rest of the settlement payments, as they were to come from real estate projects that were impacted by the recession.

Plaintiff's original complaint contained 11 causes of action including breach of the settlement agreement and tort claims. Eight of the 11 causes of action were determined in defendant's favor or dismissed prior to trial.

At trial, plaintiff sought relief on his remaining three causes of action and contended that defendant breached the parties' agreement by failing to execute customary documents to perfect plaintiff's security interest and taking improper distributions from their former joint entities. Plaintiff further alleged that defendant breached his warranty of authority.

Result

The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him $20,334,632 in damages on his breach of contract claim. The jury found in favor of defendant on plaintiff's claim that defendant breached his warranty of authority, and breached the parties' agreement by failing to execute customary documents to perfect plaintiff's security interest.

Other Information

This was a damages only retrial of a case that was originally tried in 2010. Defendant believes that the one cause of action that plaintiff prevailed on will be overturned on post-trial motions and/or appeal. FILING DATE: Dec. 10, 2007.

Deliberation

2.5 hours

Length

eight days