Willenken notched another impressive win for its vibrant Korea practice, decisively resolving a grueling four years of litigation for its Korea-based client, LED manufacturer Lumens Company, Ltd (“Lumens”).
Lumens was embroiled in a dispute with its U.S. distributor. Lumens sued the distributor for nonpayment of more than $1 million worth of LED products Lumens had shipped to the distributor’s customers. In response, the distributor filed fifteen counterclaims and demanded $16 million in compensatory and punitive damages, alleging Lumens had ruined its business and reputation. Lumens retained Jason Wilson and the Willenken team to pursue and defend the case.
Willenken won Lumens’ breach of contract claim against the distributor on summary judgment in 2015, allowing the team to focus on defending the counterclaims while prejudgment interest on the $1 million award accrued. The team then won a critical discovery victory: defeating a motion to re-open discovery, leaving the distributor in the position of having failed to develop any evidence of its claimed damages.
With trial approaching, Willenken filed motions in limine exposing this fatal flaw in the distributor’s case. In response, the Court on its own motion vacated the trial date and ordered simultaneous summary judgment briefing. Amelia Sargent deftly briefed the simultaneous motions, two rounds of supplemental briefing, and argued the motions at two hearings. The Court handed Lumens a total victory on all contested issues, adopting verbatim the reasoning in Lumens’ briefs and argument and disposing of the entire case.
