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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A man ordered to pay $10 billion to his brothers in a dispute over alleged misappropriated monetary and real estate assets in violation of an oral family partnership agreement will appeal, his attorney said Friday.
"The final chapter is far from written," said Rick Richmond, counsel for Haresh Jogani. "In addition to eventual appellate review, there are several pending and anticipated trial and post-trial motions that may dramatically alter this verdict."
Jurors had previously returned a compensatory damages verdict Feb. 26 in a long-running Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed in February 2003, granting the four successful brothers $2.5 billion in monetary damages and more than $4.5 billion in property interests, making the $7 billion compensatory damages award one of the largest in the United States this year, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys.
On Thursday, the same jury ordered defendant Haresh Jogani to pay a total of $3 billion in punitive damages to three of his brothers: $1.5 billion to Shashikant Jogani, $1.05 billion to Chetan Jogani and $450 million to Rajesh Jogani .
The case arose from a conflict involving the siblings, all from India, concerning more than 170 apartment buildings incorporating 17,000 units, primarily in the San Fernando Valley.
Haresh Jogani is listed on paper as the owner of the buildings. His attorneys denied there was an oral partnership as contended by the other siblings, arguing that their client was the sole owner of the real estate portfolio. But the plaintiffs' convinced jurors during the compensatory damages phase that there was a verbal partnership and ordered Haresh Jogani to pay brothers Rajesh Jogani and Chetan Jogani $750 million, plus real estate interests valued at more than $1 billion.
The balance of the compensatory damages verdict awarded $4.75 billion to brother Shashikant Jogani and $570 million to sibling Shailesh Jogani.