Delphi Corporation has been ordered to pay a former supplier $US37 million after losing an appeal in a lawsuit stemming from a contract dispute, the Detroit News reported.
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The paper said that, in November 2000, a jury in an Arizona federal district court awarded damages to Nelco Technology Inc., which accused Delphi’s Delco division of breaking a contract to buy mass laminate panels used in the fabrication of printed circuit boards.
Delphi spokeswoman Paula Angelo told the Detroit News that Delco discontinued production of printed circuit boards in 1998 and began purchasing them from another supplier.
According to the paper, the jury found that Delphi didn’t breach the Nelco contract intentionally but Nelco had the right to expect benefits from its relationship with Delphi and was deprived of those benefits when Delphi stopped making the printed circuit board.
Both parties subsequently appealed the Arizona jury’s ruling to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and, late last week, however, the panel upheld the lower court jury’s findings, the Detroit News said.
“We are disappointed with the court’s decision and are evaluating our legal options,” Delphi said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week cited by the newspaper.
“We believed we did act in good faith and ethically,” spokeswoman Angelo told the Detroit News.
