MCFA Wins $500,000 in Sanctions and a $45 Million Judgment
Fortune 500 Company, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America, Inc. (“MCFA”) chose Callahan & Blaine, senior trial attorney, Jim Mahacek to lead a team of five law firms in complex litigation in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Santa Ana). Mahacek’s team won a series of stunning victories culminating in a favorable judgment of over $30 million in October 2003. MCFA had sued Harvard MBA graduate—Clyde Richard Cowan—who set up a forklift dealership in Southern California to distribute MCFA manufactured products. Over the years, Cowan falsified books and records, backdated documents, and created a series of phony accounting records to hide his business operations. When MCFA became suspicious and sued Cowan, Cowan, after being prohibited from running the business by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, hacked into the business computer system and destroyed thousands of business documents. This resulted in the court sanctioning Cowan $250,000. Despite this award, Cowan again destroyed additional documents and the Court sanctioned Cowan an additional $250,000. This destruction could not prevent Mr. Mahacek from obtaining the successful verdict of $30 million, in addition to the two separate sanction awards of $250,000 each.
In addition, Mr. Mahacek and his team won an additional award of $15 million arising out of the same series of transactions; and even another separate award of $16 million on certain guaranties in favor of the company. At the same time, the Mahacek-led team defeated Cowan’s claims against MCFA under various “lender liability” theories, with the court finding such claims totally without merit.
3 Hutton Centre Drive
Ninth Floor
Santa Ana, CA 92707
(click here for a map)
Tel: (714) 241-4444
Fax: (714) 241-4445