MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 25 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network — After a six-week trial, a Minnesota federal district court jury rejected on Thursday the $129 million dollar claim for breach of contract and trade secrets theft brought by Southern Minnesota packaging equipment manufacturer Slidell, Inc. against a Maryland chemical
producer. The jury instead awarded $4.2 million dollars to Millennium
Inorganic Chemicals on its counter claim for breach of contract. Millennium,
based in Hunt Valley, MD, is a subsidiary of Houston-based Lyondell Chemical.
The case was originally filed by Slidell on January 16, 2002. Trial
proceedings began January 11, 2005. The lawsuit stemmed from a contract
dispute regarding packaging equipment for Millennium.
Millennium’s counsel, Michael Nilan of Halleland Lewis Nilan and Johnson
in Minneapolis, indicated that his client “was very pleased with the result,
and was especially happy that the jury entirely rejected Slidell’s
extraordinary claims for theft of trade secrets.”
Attorneys Scott Smith and Amanda Cialkowski joined Nilan in leading the
firm’s team for Millennium. Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson focuses on six
areas of practice: health care, product liability/mass tort litigation, labor
and employment, commercial litigation, business law and intellectual property
litigation.
