Court Upholds $1 Billion Award to Steptoe Client Motorola

On November 21, 2007, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of United States District Judge Rakoff awarding Steptoe's client, Motorola, $1 billion in punitive damages against the Uzan family defendants. Motorola sued the Uzan family for fraud in 2005 and charged that the family had defrauded Motorola of its investment of nearly $2 billion in Telsim.  Judge Rakoff found the Uzans liable for fraud and awarded Motorola compensatory and punitive damages totaling $3.1 billion. The Court of Appeals had previously affirmed the decision to award Motorola $2.1 billion in compensatory damages and the $1 billion in punitive damages was upheld with the November 2007 ruling.

The case has been highlighted in several news articles, two of which are listed below:

• Court Upholds $1 Billion Award to Motorola, New York Times - the article details how the US Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Steptoe's client, Motorola, and upheld the decision of a Federal judge in awarding Motorola damages of $1 billion based on a finding of fraud against the Uzan family in Turkey.
• Court Upholds Damages of $1 Billion to Motorola, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required) - An additional profile of the federal appeals court decision that upheld a $1 billion punitive-damage award against members of Turkey's Uzan family in a case in brought by Steptoe on behalf of Motorola.

A detailed summary of Steptoe's win is also available.