Verdict against International Paper trimmed down by Texas Appellate Court
May 5, 2020
TEXAS (From news reports) -- The Southeast Texas Record is reporting that a June 2017 Jefferson County Jury verdict for $122 million in damages against International Paper, Inc. has been trimmed down to $14.8 million by the Texas 13th Court of Appeals. The verdict came following a breach of contract lawsuit filed by Signature Industrial Services of Beaumont.
International Paper, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, has local ties after their 2012 purchase of the old Temple Inland Building Products and Paper Group, and later sold all other manufacturing operations of the company to Georgia Pacific.
Signature's August 2014 complaint filed in Jefferson County District Court said that they were not fully compensated for work performed by International Paper, and their lawsuit also named Greg Bennett and Alliance Engineers & Project Consultants of Beaumont as defendants.
The jury agreed and found that International Paper failed to comply with the agreements in place. The jury awarded Signature $2.4 million in compensation, $56 million for damages, $63 million in mental anguish damages, plus another $2.8 million for damages that were a natural and probable consequence of International Paper's purported fraud.
In their appeal, International Paper argued that the evidence was not legally sufficient to prove breach of contract, fraud, or promissory estoppel claims and was also insufficient to support to support the consequential damages award.
Signature was represented by attorneys Glen W. Morgan and John Werner of Reaud, Morgan & Quinn of Beaumont, while International Paper was represented by attorneys Shaw Cowart and Ethan Shaw.
