A jury returned a verdict in favor of Goodell DeVries's client, a dairy manufacturer, after a five-day trial in a dispute alleging breach of contract and fraud. Jeffrey Hines tried the case to verdict.
The plaintiff alleged that Goodell DeVries's client breached a manufacturing agreement, committed fraud in negotiating the agreement, and by refusing to proceed with a single production run, put the plaintiff out of business. The plaintiff demanded lost profits in excess of $2.4 million and punitive damages. Goodell DeVries argued that its client elected not to proceed with manufacturing the plaintiff’s product because it would not meet FDA labeling requirements and would have been illegal to sell.
After the defendant’s case, the jury returned a verdict that the client did not commit fraud. A jury adopted the lost profit analysis of the defendant's retained accounting expert and awarded the plaintiff $12,258.75 for the value of the lost production run, 0.5% of their alleged damages.
