Cook County Jury Finds for Business in Fraud Case, $2.1M, Punitive Damages; ISB Products, Inc. v. Autotech Technologies
A Cook County jury returned a verdict for $2,131,587 which included punitive damages, in favor of ISB Products, Inc., a Canadian corporation, in its claim against Autotech Technologies, an Illinois limited partnership and its individual owner. The case centered around a joint venture that was dissolved in March 2000 after only nine months of operation.
ISB Products, Inc. v. Autotech Technologies Limited Partnership, Shalabh Kumar, 01 CH-5970 (transferred to Law Division).
In this case, which was originally filed in the Chancery Division, ISB alleged that the defendants, Autotech Technologies Limited Partnership and Shalabh Kumar, its individual owner, fraudulently induced ISB to enter into a joint venture agreement. It was alleged that the defendants engaged in a scheme whose purpose was to defraud the plaintiff.
The complaint alleged that defendants misrepresented the amount of the existing business that Autotech would transfer to the joint venture, misrepresented that Autotech’s research and development department would design a new press control for ISB, and that defendants misrepresented that the distributors for Autotech’s $200 million business would sell ISB products through the joint venture.
