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Mar 31, 2015

LAWSUIT AGAINST TRUCKMAKER * Switzerland / USA / China - Liebherr accusing workers, Chinese companies of copying mining truck

* Switzerland / USA - Lawsuit claims former workers stole truck secrets and gave them to Chinese companies for copycat production.
-- A large manufacturing company is accusing several former workers at its Newport News (Virginia/USA) production plant, of stealing thousands of design documents used to make huge mining trucks — then turning the information over for copycat truck production in China... In a case heading for a jury trial this summer, Liebherr Mining & Construction Equipment is suing six former employees: Richard Hudson, Larry Gollady, Marc Viau, Billy M. Lewis, Allen W. Cunningham and Francis Bartley, alleging they conspired against the company... Liebherr is also suing a Detroit engineering firm, the Michigan-based — Detroit Heavy Truck Engineering, or "DHTE" — as are two officials, founder Liangyu "Mike" Huang, and vice president, Shenger "Ted" Ying, accusing it of serving as a conduit to Chinese companies, and two Chinese manufacturing partnerships, accusing them of imitating a Liebherr diesel truck with a 400-ton payload... All six workers — as well as the Detroit firms and the Chinese companies — have denied the allegations against them, saying they were not involved in a conspiracy to copy Liebherr trucks. One of the sued workers, the case's original defendant, died about a year ago... The complaint accuses some of the former workers of stealing documents by downloading files from their computers to thumb drives and USB devices, and says that one worker walked around the Newport News factory taking pictures of its layout and tools for use by a Chinese firm... The Liebherr mining trucks — built at a Newport News manufacturing plant on Chestnut Avenue, off Interstate 664 — stand 29 feet tall and have a carrying capacity of 400 tons, with tires taller than a grown man. That compares to a normal dump truck that stands 10 feet tall and has a 40-ton payload... The case, with the complaint first filed in late 2010, is being heard in Newport News Circuit Court before Judge Timothy S. Fisher, with a jury trial set for July. Numerous defendants and lawyers are involved, with court filings taking up two large boxes... Parties in China have been served with the Newport News complaint by way of the Hague Convention, an international agreement that includes rules on serving court documents overseas... The complaint asks for $40 million in compensatory damages, though it asks that that be tripled — to $120 million — under state rules on conspiracy. It also asks for $350,000 in punitive damages against each defendant... The suit alleges the conspiracy began in early 2010, when "Elite" wanted to get into the large mining truck business. Only five other companies in the world — including Liebherr — were involved in such production... They wanted to get into the business sooner rather than later, the complaint said, given the downturn in the economy and their thinking that customers around the world might want lower-priced alternatives to the high-end trucks...
(Photo: A heavy duty truck by Liebherr Mining Equipment) - Newport News, VA, USA -The Daily Press / Newport News - 28 March 2015

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