Brandt

By their “Complaint for Money, for Breach of Contract, for Damages for Bad Faith, for Damages for Breach of Confidential Relationship,” in an action against their employers, Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc., a corporation, and Lockheed Aircraft International, Inc., a corporation (hereafter in the singular, Lockheed), plaintiffs Oscar Brandt and Joseph Harris sought damages for Lockheed’s claimed failure reasonably to reward them for an invention, the patent rights of which they had assigned to Lockheed.

Following trial of the issues, a jury found in favor of plaintiffs against Lockheed for $2,357,800 in compensatory damages, and $235,780 in punitive damages. The court thereafter denied Lockheed’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and granted Lockheed’s alternative motion for a new trial, unless “plaintiffs file a remission of the judgment in the sum of $1,793,000.00 leaving a total judgment as and for compensatory damages in the sum of $564,800.00 plus costs [and] they file a remission of the punitive damage aspect of this case in the sum of $235,780.00[; if] remission is filed as aforesaid, the motion for new trial is denied. ” Plaintiffs did not…