The Superior Court erred in granting JNOV to Trimble because a reasonable jury could have found that Trimble was liable for Intentional or Negligent Misrepresentation, Breach of Contract, or Breach of Fiduciary Duty.
The Superior Court erred in granting JNOV to Trimble because the evidence provided a jury with a reasonable basis for the award of damages.
In the alternative, the Superior Court erred by denying RDS an award of nominal damages or remittitur.
I. Factual Background
Brian Feucht and Jim Belz started Recreational …show more content…
Mr. Chaur-Fong Chen, Director for Strategic Business Development for Trimble Navigation Limited and the main contact for Trimble who worked with RDS, constantly reassured RDS that Trimble was dedicated and committed to the project. Trimble requested that RDS not unveil their mobile app, until Trimble developed the hardware. RDS agreed, and as a result was unable to develop a software specific to Trimble’s hardware until a hardware design was approved. Trimble worried that a separate app release would affect future hardware sales. As part of the development process, Remington conducted marketing research for the partnership, to determine consumer interest in the software. This would also assist in assessing expected profit and anticipated number of units to be sold. The representative for each party, worked together to produce a conservative profit and loss statement. The resulting statements were presented to each company’s executive. All three parties agreed to the revenue profit summary analysis. Although, Chen advocated for using larger profit estimates, the other parties chose to go with a more conservative estimate. Larry Fox, a witness for Trimble, testified that when Trimble launched their software version, they relied on the type of same profit summary. Based on the market research, Remington was prepared to invest in the project and instructed its representative to proceed as soon as possible. Trimble also indicated that they were ready to move forward with the project. Paul miller, a veteran used to work with companies accepted to exceed the $100 million mark; joined with RDS as an unpaid consultant and observed the joint relationship between Chen and Feucht. He recognized the relationship as a partnership between Trimble and RDS. The partnership between RDS, Trimble and Remington, toured prospective businesses, presenting their product and