HOUSTON, TX (May 21, 2015) – Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, is pleased to announce that Shareholders Scott McDonald and Allan H. Neighbors IV have just won a federal jury trial for the Quantlab companies in a significant trade secrets case. In addition to $28.5 million stipulated judgments reached with four defendants who did not go to trial, the jury on May 20, 2015 assessed $12.2 million against the two remaining co-defendants – a quantitative researcher who at one time was employed by Quantlab and a Wisconsin attorney/investor who was the CEO of a company set up to exploit Quantlab’s trade secrets.
The jury assessed a total $7.2 million in damages against former Quantlab employee Andriy Kuharsky for misappropriation of trade secrets and conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets. The jury also found Kuharsky liable for inducing Ms. Anna Maravina (one of the co-defendants who agreed to a stipulated judgment before trial) to breach her fiduciary duty.
The jury assessed a total $5 million in damages against Wisconsin attorney Emmanuel Mamalakis for misappropriation of trade secrets and conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets.
Earlier this year, the district court issued summary judgments in Quantlab’s favor against both Mamalakis and Kuharsky for copyright infringement. And, as a sanction for repeated spoliation of evidence, the court also entered a summary judgment of liability against Kuharsky for breach of contract, as well as misappropriation of trade secrets.
The court will determine injunctive relief and attorney’s fees at a later date.
Lee Kaplan and Ty Doyle from Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, L.L.P. served as co-counsel and also played a major role in the multi-week trial.
The case is styled Quantlab Technologies Ltd. (BVI) and Quantlab Financial, LLC, vs. Vitaliy Godlevsky, Andriy Kuharsky, Anna Maravina, Ping An, Emmanuel Mamalakis, and SXP Analytics, LLC, Case No. 09-cv-4039 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Judge Keith Ellison presiding.
About Littler
Littler is the largest global employment and labor law practice, with more than 1,000 attorneys in over 60 offices worldwide. Littler represents management in all aspects of employment and labor law and serves as a single-source solution provider to the global employer community. Consistently recognized in the industry as a leading and innovative law practice, Littler has been litigating, mediating and negotiating some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record for over 70 years. Littler Global is the collective trade name for an international legal practice, the practicing entities of which are separate and distinct professional firms.
