Motorola Case Update: Back in Business

In lifting a stay on execution, a New York federal appeals court allows Motorola, Inc., to re-commence collection efforts on a $2.13 billion of a $4.26 billion judgment rendered against Turkey's Uzan family. A New York federal judge had found that five members of the Uzan family (one of the richest in the world) and certain of their confederates and companies had perpetrated a massive fraud against Motorola and awarded it $4.26 billion in damages: $2.13 billion in compensatory damages and $2.13 billion in punitive damages. The order from the appeals court allows Motorola to execute on the compensatory damages element.

The court is still reviewing whether the Uzans have to pay the remainder of the $4.26 billion, which covers punitive damages, according to Motorola's lawyer Steven Davidson of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Before the stay was imposed, Motorola's lawyers had attached substantial Uzan assets, including bank accounts, jet airplanes, luxury apartments in New York City and in London, and printing plants in Germany.  

Steptoe partner Howard Stahl, lawyer for Motorola, says that Motorola intends “to restart and vigorously pursue collection of the Uzan assets. We're back in business.”

Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, WMRC Daily Analysis, and the Chicago Tribune featured the news.