A jury Thursday awarded $3 billion in punitive damages to three of four brothers who alleged that a fifth sibling misappropriated monetary and real estate assets in violation of an oral family partnership agreement, bringing the plaintiffs’ total win to $10 billion when the $7 billion in compensatory damages they won last week are added.
Jurors had previously returned a compensatory damages verdict Feb. 26 in a long-running Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed in February 2003, granting the four successful brothers $2.5 billion in monetary damages and more than $4.5 billion in property interests, making the award one of the largest in the United States this year, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
On Thursday, the same jury ordered defendant Haresh Jogani to pay a total of $3 billion in punitive damages to three of his brothers: $1.5 billion Shashikant Jogani, $1.05 billion to Chetan Jogani and $450 million to Rajesh Jogani .
Plaintiffs’ attorney Peter Ross said the plaintiffs are “elated” with the punitive damages verdict.
“They feel the jurors really saw them and heard their stories,” Ross said. “It is phenomenal that these brothers traveled 12,000 miles, to the far side of the globe, and found patience, wisdom and justice from a jury of ordinary citizens. We can all feel justifiably proud of our judicial system.”
The case arose from a conflict involving the siblings, all from India, concerning more than 170 apartment buildings incorporating 17,000 units, primarily in the San Fernando Valley.
Haresh Jogani is listed on paper as the owner of the buildings. His attorneys denied there was an oral partnership as contended by the other siblings, arguing that their client was the sole owner of the real estate portfolio. But the plaintiffs’ convinced jurors during the compensatory damages phase that there was a verbal partnership and ordered Haresh Jogani to pay brothers Rajesh Jogani and Chetan Jogani $750 million, plus real estate interests valued at more than $1 billion.
The balance of the compensatory damages verdict awarded $4.75 billion to brother Shashikant Jogani and $570 million to sibling Shailesh Jogani.