$36 Million Verdict for SP Among Top Missouri Business Verdicts & Settlements

Top Missouri Business Verdicts & Settlements

Missouri Lawyers Weekly – Copyright 2007 Dolan Media Company
By Missouri Lawyers Weekly Staff

$36M verdict

Breach of contract

Structural Polymer Group Ltd. and Structural Polymer Systems Ltd. v. Zoltek Corp

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

Attorneys for Plaintiffs: Louis Bonacorsi of Bryan Cave, St. Louis; James Bennett of Dowd Bennett, St. Louis; Edward Dowd of Dowd Bennett, St. Louis; James Weiss of Bryan Cave, St. Louis

Attorneys for Defendant: James J. Virtel, James G. Martin, Deanna M. Wendler Modde and Brent M. Covington, Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis

Attorneys for a British building manufacturer overcame the home court advantage of Zoltek Corp. to win a breach of contract case in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri.

Structural Polymer Systems Ltd. (SP Systems) claimed in its lawsuit that Zoltek, a St. Louis-based carbon fiber manufacturer, quit supplying large filament count carbon fiber in breach of a 10-year supply contract signed in 2000. Zoltek maintained that the contract covered only an earlier version of the product SP Systems had ordered through 2003, not an improved version launched in 2004.

The jury found SP Systems had not abandoned or breached the contract, that the contract was still in effect and that it covered both earlier and improved versions of the product. The jury also sided with SP Systems on Zoltek’s counterclaim that SP Systems failed to discharge its obligations of good faith and fair dealing.