A federal judge in Seattle has sided with Boeing and is throwing out a jury verdict that called for the aerospace giant to pay $72 million to Zunum Aero, a Seattle-area aviation startup it once supported.
In a statement emailed to GeekWire, Boeing said it was “grateful for the court’s careful and thorough consideration of all the evidence at trial to reach this decision.”
Zunum took a different view: “We are disappointed by the court’s decision to overturn the jury’s carefully considered and well-supported verdict,” the Bothell, Wash-based company said in an emailed statement. “We intend to appeal the court’s order and to reinstate the jury’s verdict.”
Zunum’s goal was to develop hybrid electric airplanes that it said could reinvigorate regional air transport. In 2017, the company forged a partnership with Boeing, and Boeing made $9 million in loans to Zunum. But the startup wasn’t able to gain traction and ended up suspending operations in 2019.
In its lawsuit, Zunum alleged that Boeing misappropriated its trade secrets and interfered with its efforts to bring in more investment from companies associated with Safran, a different aerospace company. At the end of an eight-day trial in May, a nine-member jury backed most of Zunum’s claims — but after the verdict, District Judge James Robart reviewed the case in response to Boeing’s post-trial challenges.
Robart’s ruling, issued today, sided with Boeing’s challenges. The judge wrote that Zunum didn’t provide sufficient evidence that the pieces of information it shared with Boeing about its technology could truly be considered trade secrets. He also agreed with Boeing that Zunum “failed to provide substantial evidence that Zunum had a valid business expectancy with Safran,” and did not suffer harm due to any interference from Boeing.
The judge noted that challenges to a jury verdict had to meet a “very high” standard — that is, that the evidence “permits only one reasonable conclusion, and that conclusion is contrary to that of the jury.” In the end, Robart determined that Boeing’s challenges met the standard.
For now, Zunum is still on the hook to Boeing for the $9 million in loans, plus interest, that Robart ruled it had to repay in May.
https://ift.tt/gFSa5J9 August 15, 2024 at 01:31AM GeekWire
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