Jurors in BDO International Case Give Ex-S&C Lawyer Another Huge Setback in Fight over $521 Million Verdict
By Brian Baxter
June 18, 2009
The Irish say that bad things come in threes. If that’s true, Steven Thomas must be wondering what's next.On Thursday afternoon the former Sullivan & Cromwell partner turned plaintiffs lawyer saw an already bad week turn worse. Less than an hour after Thomas finished his closing arguments in a trial in which he sought to hold BDO International liable for a 2007 verdict he won against its U.S. affiliate, the six-person state court jury in Miami returned a defense verdict. The jury's finding that BDO International bore no responsibility for the $170 million compensatory damages verdict against BDO Seidman followed Tuesday's directed verdict for BDO International, which cleared the international of liability for $351 million in punitive damages against BDO Seidman.
"The jury got the case at 3:01 [P.M.] and they returned a verdict at approximately two minutes of four," said BDO International lawyer Mark Raymond of Broad and Cassel. "The evidence is just overwhelming that there is no control by BDO International of its member firms--I am stunned that Thomas still bangs that drum. We all postulate theories, but when you lose in such a dramatic fashion, it's time to get a new case. Steve Thomas is a terrific lawyer, but he had the facts wrong here."
The jury found that Chicago-based accounting firm BDO Seidman was not an agent of Brussels-based BDO International. Unfortunately for Thomas, that means his client, Portuguese bank Espirito Santo, can seek to collect the $521.7 million verdict it won in 2007 only from BDO Seidman. That award, the largest ever against a U.S. accounting firm, is on appeal.
Reached by phone shortly after the jury delivered its judgment, Thomas sounded like a man whose beach party just got hit by a tsunami. "In the [BDO Seidman] case, the jury came back pretty quick and we won," Thomas told us. "But this time they came back pretty quick and we lost."
Thomas said the jury didn't give a reason for its decision. He also said he was still reeling from the ruling and wasn’t ready to talk about a potential appeal, although he did note that his motion for a directed verdict on compensatory damages is pending with Miami-Dade circuit court judge John Schlesinger.
"This is a tough one," he said. "But you've got to face the music--win, lose, or draw."
