Victory for SKV Client, Quantlab

WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015

SKV partners Lee Kaplan and Ty Doyle have just won a federal jury trial for the Quantlab companies in a significant trade secrets case.  In addition to $28.5 million stipulated judgments reached with four defendants prior to trial, the jury on May 20, 2015 assessed $12.2 million against the two remaining co-defendants – a quantitative researcher who at one time was employed by Quantlab and a Wisconsin attorney/investor who was the CEO of a company set up to exploit Quantlab’s trade secrets.

The jury assessed a total $7.2 million in damages against former Quantlab employee Andriy Kuharsky for misappropriation of trade secrets and conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets. The jury also found Kuharsky liable for inducing Ms. Anna Maravina (one of the co-defendants who agreed to a stipulated judgment before trial) to breach her fiduciary duty.

The jury assessed a total $5 million in damages against Wisconsin attorney Emmanuel Mamalakis for misappropriation of trade secrets and conspiracy to misappropriate trade secrets.

Earlier this year, the district court issued summary judgments in Quantlab’s favor against both Mamalakis and Kuharsky for copyright infringement.  And, as a sanction for repeated spoliation of evidence, the court also entered a summary judgment of liability against Kuharsky for breach of contract as well as misappropriation of trade secrets. 

The court will determine injunctive relief and attorney’s fees at a later date.

SKV’s co-counsel from Littler Mendelson were Allan Neighbors and Scott McDonald, who handled important technical witnesses during the nine-day trial. 

The case is styled Quantlab Technologies Ltd. (BVI) and Quantlab Financial, LLC, vs. Vitaliy Godlevsky, Andriy Kuharsky, Anna Maravina, Ping An, Emmanuel Mamalakis, and SXP Analytics, LLC, Case No. 09-cv-4039 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Judge Keith Ellison presiding.