Mining tyre company wins $26 million conspiracy judgment against two foreign firms

By Miles Moore, ERJ staff (TB)

Alexandria, Virginia -- A mining tyre design development company and its chief executive officer have won a $26 million judgment against Dubai-based tyre distributor Al Dobowi Tyre Co. LLC and Chinese tyre maker Shandong LingLong Rubber Co. Ltd., for alleged conspiracy to steal trade secrets.

Florida-based Tire Engineering and Distribution LLC, which also does business as Alpha Mining Systems and Alpha Tyre Systems, and its CEO, Jordan Fishman, accused Al Dobowi and Shandong LingLong of conspiring with former Alpha executive Sam Vance in 2005 to steal Mr. Fishman's unique, proprietary designs for underground mining tyres.

Shandong LingLong planned to manufacture tyres based on Mr. Fishman's designs and Al Dobowi planned to distribute them, the complaint filed Oct. 30, 2009 claimed.

The jury before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on all counts July 15. It levied damages of $26 million against Al Dobowi, Shandong LingLong and their subsidiaries, as well as another firm, TyreX International Ltd., and its subsidiary.

In May 2008, a judge in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Sarasota County, Fla., ordered Mr. Vance to pay more than $59 million to his former employers for allegedly stealing blueprints, pricing information and other proprietary Alpha documents for Al Dobowi and for Guizhou Tire Co., Alpha's then-contractor for manufacturing mining tyres. Shandong LingLong entered the conspiracy later, at Al Dobowi's invitation, the Virginia court complaint alleges.

However, the Florida Second District Court of Appeal vacated the judgment on April 30, 2010, ruling that Alpha had not provided sufficient evidence that Florida courts had jurisdiction over Mr. Vance, who has never lived in Florida. Mr. Vance never appeared in the Florida courts and is now living in China.

Neither Mr. Fishman nor John Barr, a Houston attorney representing Al Dobowi, could immediately be reached for comment.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)