Following a nearly three-week trial, Beggs & Lane attorneys Nix Daniel and Jack Zoesch obtained a defense verdict in favor of a local government contractor and its principals. The trial concluded an extensive litigation that centered on a $90 million contract award to the firm’s client by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The plaintiff claimed that the firm’s client breached an alleged teaming agreement by not subcontracting the award and also that it had been fraudulently induced into entering into the purported agreement. Claims of trade secret misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment were dismissed prior to trial.
At trial, the firm’s clients prevailed on all counts based on numerous grounds. Specifically, the Court found that no agreement existed and that no fraudulent conduct had occurred. In addition, the Court held that the alleged agreement was non-binding and barred by the Statute of Frauds. Further, the Court rejected the plaintiff’s claimed damages as speculative and not established to the standard required by Florida law. Final Judgment was entered on behalf of the firm’s clients and the Court subsequently awarded them attorneys’ fees and costs.
Nix Daniel is the manager of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group while Jack Zoesch is the manager of the firm’s Government Contracts Practice Group.