The IndyCar team Dragon Racing has sued Group Lotus for at least $4.6 million in damages, accusing the company in its claim of damaging the team’s reputation by spreading “especially outrageous” falsehoods while at the same time failing to deliver two chassis which it had agreed to supply, which handicapped the team’s opportunity to be competitive. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles late last week by team owner Jay Penske. The team has deals to run Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge, but the relationship with Lotus kicked off badly when Bourdais was without an engine until the night before the first practice for the first race in St Petersburg. The lawsuit said that Dragon had had enough of Lotus’s “deceit and wrongdoing”.
Dragon claims that Lotus was supposed to provide two chassis to the team free of charge, but did not deliver them, which meant that Penske had to pay for the cars. Despite this Lotus then refused to deliver engines until paid by the team. The lawsuit says that Dragon was forced to accept Lotus’s “outrageous and improper demands”.
Dragon also accused Lotus of defamation for ewhat it claimed were “knowingly false statements to the effect that Dragon was not honoring financial and contractual commitments to Lotus”.
Dragon also claims Lotus is in breach of its agreement because it did not disclose it was in the middle of a corporate reorganization, which meant that Lotus could not meet its contractual obligations.
Dragon wants the contract cancelled and is looking for engines. Chevrolet has taken on Dreyer & Reinbold, another Lotus refugee, in recent days, while Bryan Herta Autosport has also left the Lotus fold and hopes to get a deal with Honda. Dragon is hoping that it can get some Chevrolets. This leaves Lotus with one car for HVM Racing for Simona de Silvestro, although it has been announced that Jean Alesi will race a Lotus run by Fan Force United, an Indy Lights team run by former IndyCar driver Tyce Carlson. The Frenchman was due to run with Newman Haas Racing, but the team withdrew its entry, saying that it had run out of time to prepare for the event.
I can’t wait to see the press release in response to this one.
The entire Indy Car series needs to put down like the lame animal it is.
Why do you say that? It provides a professional championship in the Americas for the tracks that are there. This year there are plenty of cars, the budgets are more reasonable than Europe and you get plenty of track time.
There are issues this year but it seems to be on the upswing. So long as you have an engine contract with a non-lotus make then the price per lap of racing can’t be beat.
What a train wreck; the bad news just keeps coming. Surely nobody with a love of motoring can be please to see the marque tear itself apart like this.
Joe,
Maybe the tiniest touch of Schadenfreude here ;-}}
Not that I would blame you!
Wilson
The late great Dr Harvey Postlethwaite used to say that in F1, you just have to sit by the river and eventually all the bad guys will float past you. I suspect Bahar and his goons will float past me soon enough, with only their Wellingtons above the surface.
I shall not be hooking them out…
Please note I will now be stealing that quote to use at every possible opportunity. Awesome.
What a fantastic quote
Harvey had many similar quips – another favourite was “Don’t confuse competence with excellence”.
Crikey, that one, Nigel, is too bloody true, since stumbling across competence seems so rare anywhere lately as to be an act of God! I am sure they are trying to make it so rare as to be disclaimable under insurance policies . .
Not saying you expect a lot of straight thinkers in my field, which is rather aplenty with rotters and bs’ers, but thanks for that one – says a lot in a way the kind of pillock you might feel you need to to say it to could understand!
I think there’s also a wave of society disclaiming all responsibility for themselves now, so that quote is even more useful.
I have one I’ve not heard anywhere else, so claim as mine “If you’re explaining, you’re loosing” Not anywhere near as good, but sums up my frustrations with every day low wattage intelligence . .
(i must spare you why i feel this so on the money today, it’s much too early to make anyone else feel unwell hearing about my wonderful mates’ pathetic antics! yeah, long night . . oh eck how do people’s fixated woes spoil attempts at innocent fun . .)
I thought it was “Don’t confuse genius with laziness”. An apt description of me.
I’m just telling you what HP used to say. Those of us who worked with him learned to hang on every word because there were lots of gems like the one Joe quoted.
On their way to the Gulf Stream which will no doubt whisk them off to a comfy retirement in a warm, sandy tax haven.
Problem is the Dan Man is floating by face down…
Joe
This is the same Lotus that claims “Lotus Raises IndyCar Commitment”, your post dated April 24th.
A Penske family member versus Bahar and co. (or whoever is running the company now) in an American court! Wonder how that might turn out.
Martin
What a mess. Lotus have been a total shambles in their IndyCar dealings, but in saying that, Judd Engineering isn’t coming out too clean either.
While Herta and DRR have definitely struggled, Dragon were left completely high and dry in the run up to the tests and opening race at St Petersburg – simply unacceptable in this day and age.
Judd probably hasn’t been paid either.
Judd doesn’t have a history of leaving their customers so burned. Given that Group Lotus has left unpaid so many other commitments, it’s not much of a reach to suspect that Group Lotus has treated Judd just as poorly.
There’s a reason the IndyCar teams aren’t suing, or even blaming Judd for these problems. Judd is in exactly the same boat.
This is the worse case of a CEO gone rogue i have ever seen.
Oh, great, yesterday I only half seriously meant we should “do a Groklaw” around here, and today, thank you Danny B, it looks like we have no choice!
Good morning to you Mr Bahar, my compliments on keeping us all busy .. Including getting the California Superior Court website not to choke on my UK card account, to pull the dockets grr
A phone call did not resolve that, yet. Even on a dollar denominated card. I am still struggling through getting my shop a tax ID, which apparently would help a lot, and the poor man who is helping me is snowed under paperwork (and he’s far more the artist than attorney, so unfair of me to put this one on his plate). I shall try to muddle through by the time the next move happens. If I wasted less time babysitting some lovely pals who lately mistake me for some agony aunt, I’d be right on it, sorry, old loyalties . .
One of many lawsuits in the death throws of this mess!
What a carry on at Lotus, I don’t even understand who ‘Lotus’ is anymore?! I see this as incredibly damaging for the name Lotus, are they going to continue to self destruct like this?! Bizarre….
This will do enourmous damage to the Lotus name in the States and will probably cost a fortune in legal fees, something that was not in the plan.
I don’t understand this! Didn’t Dany smile prettily enough or flick his hair right?
Still no explanation of the Lotus Youngman UK Automotive company registration in Dany’s name and him holding 50% of it.
Shocking
You could see that coming from a mile away. A car company that sells very few cars, led by a CEO with delusions of grandeur, was all of a sudden releasing 5 new models, sponsoring 3 indycar teams, an F1 team, and countless other racing series (Alex job’s team in ALMS is probably next to go down). Can you say overextended ? I wish The ex-renault team would change name again and separate from those clowns….
I have to admit, I can’t really see the worth of calling yourself Lotus anymore – unless of course you’d like to buy the company – or they’re paying you to do it (which they’re not).
Other than that – its just got to be plain embarassing.
Also, this looks like half a good car this year and renault are reaping no kudos from it at all.
Strong words from Dragon Racing Joe.
Perhaps I am naive, but a top professional like Jean Alesi getting in a car at a potentially dangerous event, (I know that all racing is dangerous, but I gather Indy has it’s own set of challenges especially for a non regular contender), run by a non regular team, when a hugely experienced team like Newman Haas has withdrawn…. seems odd at best.
I have no idea of the full story but wouldn’t Alesi have been better to have graciously stepped away from this? It’s a bit like him getting into an HRT for a one off drive at Monaco isn’t it?
Correct me if I’m wrong.
I did talk to Jean and suggested it was not a great idea, but he wants to go racing and good for him. He knows what he is doing and that’s his choice.
The technical people behind the Alesi deal are as good as they come. He stands a good chance of having a usable car. Next year even if he tests he will have to outrace several people to qualify. This year an engine might get him in.
There you go, I said I stand to be corrected, and I am. I see your point ref shortage of numbers giving him a better chance of a start. Thanks.
When does Jean A ever get a break?!
I know he has done well i life, but it seems the world laughs him whenever he tries to get in a decent car. I guess just another reason for me to moan at Danny B, messing with the positive threads in life. Much more than unfair, it’s foul play with others’ dreams.
Seriously? Really? “The technical people behind the Alesi deal are as good as they come”. Kool Aid drinking Gomer or you simply do not have a clue. They are a hodge podge of sorts, one mechanic with a good grasp of engineering and the rest hard working but thin on experience – espy with an Indy Car chassis and in particular the very tricky DW 12. The car will be slow and it will porpoise all over in mid corner when pushed and Jean will come into the pits for advice and he’ll get an air pressure change and perhaps a rate change and told to go back out. Then he’ll over drive a car that’s not ready and …this is when bad stuff happens. At least he would have had a half decent chance with an owner such as Carl and a well engineered chassis worked upon by guys with 25 years of experience. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it all goes well but we’ve seen too many teams jump from the minor leagues and onto the track at Indy and get into trouble let alone adding a driver who is a rookie on ovals on top of everything else.
JV, do some research on Fan Force, it’s a small team, but the primary engineer Tim Wardrop has the all time track record at Indy, he was involved in F1, he’s designed chassis, he’s no slouch. There are a handful of very experienced people with great resumes involved in this team. My friend is driving for their Indy Lights team, and he couldn’t be more pleased.
I would have thought Le Mans cars or historics would be a much better sphere for Jean. Much more relaxed and a really nice bunch of people there as well.
Wilson
I had a early finish yesterday, watched a AUDI sponsored doc, Truth in 24 about their LM season couple years back. Free to download, really good stuff – especially McNish. Christiansen, Pirro, even if obviously biased by the sponsor. Even annoying dramatic voiceover and music doesn’t detract from sensing the nice atmosphere. LM was definitely what as a little boy I first identified as racing, and from the outside, looking in, I do sense a really warm community.
My constant pitch is F1 needs to loosen up a bit, for its own sake. but with present puppet masters twisting it about all ways to do high falutin’ deals, little chance. Desperation at the top means gets messy below.
Held something of a party, for Jean Alesi’s last F1 race, a first and last, i reckon, for breaking out toasts like that, he always struck me as true heart. Sucks he’s being mucked about, like this.
Shhhh Joe, you’ll upset Mr. Behahahah.
Is he still there?
Interesting …
This and the above point all point to interesting legal developments…i look forward to hearing in 6/12/18 months time….
Well, clearly Dragon Racing is helping GL increase their involvement in Indy by having to supply just one engine Joe… It’s a pity that people like us can’t understand that….
All joking aside, it really is sad that a once great marquee is publicly humiliating itself while on its dying bed. Really sad.
Everyone with common sense saw this coming. Group Lotus hasn’t made a profit in years but suddenly invested millions in F1, Indycar, LMS, F3, GP2, GP3 and whatever more…..And now it’s biting them in the butt hard.
Fernandez must be glad he offloaded the Lotus name because slowly the name is getting tainted by Bahar’s and Group Lotus’ actions.
I can only hope that the Chapman Family have a wallet sufficiently well filled with Bahahaha dollars to cushion the impact of the Lotus name rapidly falling credibility.
A case of eyes bigger than your belly methinks. (As well as rubbish due diligence).
Hmmm, maybe JPM should take leaf out of Dragon Racing book, and sue McLaren for Imola’06.
Afterall on back of signing 2006 champ, the team was leaving no stone unturned to eject its own drivers. What started with the engine mapping troubles delivering less power/speed to car, releasing in traffic and messing qualifying laps and Imola’06 was cherry on cake. Imagine a team of McLaren’s resource pool not giving car to driver right until Q1.
Imagine if it was Bourdais instead of JPM, a law-suit was definitely on cards.
I always thought JPM was a bit bigger than that sort of thing. Well, I reckoned him a genuine man, anyhow.
You really hit it on the nail, though, about how personalities create conflict. Sadly, sometimes it simply pays to be a petty ninny. In a few circumstances, one’s I’ve seen, the only way to get by is all histrionics and elbow barging. When that happens it sucks. Actually, across life, I’ve often enough found there’s a sting in the tail if you just try to walk away with your head held high. People who think petty always seem to find a way to hurl stones. Crikey, I even been stuck in scenarios where choosing to take the high ground would be considered so alien to some types as to be a personal insult. Yup, some people know when their stupid games are called out. Even implying you are saying “grow up” is a call to arms for who habituates the world of lower morals.
Anyhow, I was disappointed Juan Pablo did not stick around F1, no matter I understood his reasons.
So, baby Pensky says that Lotus was supposed to buy 2 new cars and supply free engines to his fly by night team? Were they supposed to pay Bourdais’ salary too?
If Lotus wouldn’t pony up the money to Newman/Haas for Jean Alesi to run the only race that matters, does it make sense that they would blow the kind of money Jay claims on Dragon for an entire season of meaningless races?
I predict 3.2 for the 500.
Jim,
I know Jay Penske, went to college with him, you couldn’t be more wrong in your assumptions about him. He’s an incredibly clever and accomplished entrepreneur, and while his last name and contacts may get doors opened a little quicker, beyond that it’s up to him. If Lotus wanted him and Bourdais bad enough to agree to those terms, that’s Lotus’ problem. Lotus mgmt went nuts last year with branching into multiple series, slapping “factory” team on teams throughout racing, if Jay saw an opportunity to extract a phenomenally favorable deal with them, my hat’s off to him, and he’s entitled to whatever their contract stated.
Both interesting points – I have to agree with NR supporting some of the threads here – Lotus made their bed and now they’re being forced to lie in it.
Or rather, they’re being charged the full room rate and the contents of the mini bar for cancelling their reservation.
To extend Nik’s metaphor, is it perhaps more accurate to say that the clerk behind the front desk has found that the credit card he’s been given keeps rejecting? That may be ok if the owner’s dad owns a far bigger hotel, but there’s a lot of other establishments may be driven under.
Dear all
Whilst Bahar cannot be held accountable for the decision to flog off Proton, can’t help but wonder how far in advance he knew about it.
Either way, he is a master of promising diamonds and delivering turds.
Nice bit of brand damage he has done to Group Lotus- the “proposed” range, (Witha snow flakes chance in hell of getting off the ground, ) has left the current range looking second rate, and, now, a nice dose of brand damage in the American market.
Well, hopefully, after this, he won’t even be able to get a job driving the s*#t cart with the Oodnadatta Shire Council.
What an unholy, disgarceful mess.
MarkR
promising diamonds and delivering turds.
>> Now why does that expression remind me of certain British gents in-charge of Honda’s F1 project in Brackley? Honda pumped all the funds and when the results came, their brand was missing (though their funds were present).
I wonder if all these hustlers hold regular conferences at expensive resorts and exchange notes on how they conned their last victim? Hmmm
You must be jealous.
Actually, Joe, when I have been in a tight spot, I have to admit, more than once I have been stupidly jealous of someone else’s cushy number, even if no way would I want to be in their shoes once I calmed down!
Naah, too busy to be jealous, those staches need lots of attention and twirl you see
They spent 5 years at expensive resorts trying to explain how they had mistimed their campaign at Ferrari but next year they would successively con Maranello…
The ‘Lotus’ brand is getting more and more tarnished by the day, such a pity. I really do think things could have been so much different if Tony Fernandes had been able to take control before Danny Bahar blew the budget like a spoilt child.
I wish Tony all the best at Caterham, and I wish all the good people at Lotus the best for the future to. No reason why these two companies can’t happily coexist together, but I fear that while it will be a long hard slog ahead for the Cateram boys the lotus guys are facing a much more uncertain future.
Mike
Will it rain in Spain? The temperatures are rising in Catalonia and may well result in a downpour on Sunday during the GP. It could be a very wet race! Check the forecast for the Catalunya Circuit: http://bit.ly/JKcBeU
I think that forecast updated to saying fair weather, but rain plus the Damocles’ sword of the Pirelli’s could make a classic out of a siesta – bring it on please!
“Lotus Raises IndyCar Commitment.”
Oddly, this bit of news hasn’t made the official Lotus site, which means that the aforementioned story is still the fourth item on their feed.
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/indycar-series-news/278270/indycar-team-sues-group-lotus/
What a shameful joke for a car automaker to be that unimaginable freaking worst when just only at 4 race, lose all customer and only merely left 1 team. Kinda pity at Lotus being suck for 2 decades until today no matter at Road car, Motorsport included Indycar, F1 too messy with full of legal cases.
“Only four races into the season, Lotus is now left with just one customer team.”
hahaha
What a sordid little episode this whole Lotus Indy engine thing has been Joe. Two years ago I bet a friend that the Lotus engine wouldn’t answer the bell for the first race, it did but only just, barely struggling into the ring, Since then it has been all downhill for some fine drivers and teams.
Hopefully the whole mess will be put out of it’s misery very soon. What’s that whining noise we hear? Why, it’s Colin Chapman spinning in his grave at what Dany Bahar has done to the proud name of Lotus in just several years………….how sad and how disgraceful.
I have to say it, David, the whole recent history of everything around the name has been sordid. If we’re supposed to be Brits., surely we are all up for a honorable failure, but a good try? Can always try again. But this is like a full back saying “geroff, I like this mud here, leave me alone!”
Some types have been at work, I think, to demoralize all of us, participant or distant viewer. Is there anyone who feels better as a result?
It seems bahar was spending lotus money they did’nt have, what a gimp!
This kind of affair always makes me think “Southern Organs”. You’ve got to have been around a while to remember that one..
Just trying to be even handed here. Yes I know, it’s unlike me lol.
As my closest friend in the USA is a top end Lawyer, I’ve seen a bit of this posturing. The suit is of course for a laughable amount, it may as well have been for 4 billion. They’ll settle in hundreds of thousands is my guess. I think the more damaging aspect is that it could open up the floodgates for anyone with a grievance linked to Group Lotus – from F1 through Indy to GTs, F3 and beyond, to have a go for a bit of a compensation claim. http://www.lotusinjurylawyers4u.com
The danger, as so many people have pointed out, isn’t the money or the case per se, they’ll be arguing that for years – the danger is the spreading poison for the brand. The next court case will be headlined not ‘a lawsuit for Group Lotus’ but “yet another lawsuit for etc”
Now I’m not going all soft in my old age, my opinion is just the same, however I would say that worse things than this commercially happen in motorsport and get brushed under the carpet, but in this case, the target, Group Lotus, is a sitting duck. The best chance of getting a quiet out of court settlement for the team is – yup – go big on publicity, sling the dirt, cry a lot on the witness stand and hope they’ll pay up to shut you up. It’s what I would do.
The problem in all this is, that for whatever reason (please refer to all the previous threads!) Group Lotus have made them selves a target, like a run on a Greek bank – try to get your money out before something worse happens.
Lets hope not.
Yes, very unlike you, Nick! I prefer the full on firebrand you!
Just for a reverse, my Chicagoan buddy is always moaning he never heard so much BS fret and talk ’till he moved here. But they do talk things up big, thataway, most definitely. Nick, you are spot on, that the problem with Lotus is they are lit up almost solely because of their problems. They bring their own cloud to the party, and it pisses down on anyone nearby. I’m so dim I just realized Jean Alesi was caught up in this, and that sticks in my craw. Just plain wrong. The charitable thing is to hope Lotus will wake up one morning, and realize the agony they do not need to suffer. But I have a mate about whom I should probably write a book, called Angus, or Angrus, or Anguish, to his friends. Some people really are the man banging his head against the wall, who when asked, replies “but it’s so nice when I stop!”.
Much more importantly than any of this – did we ever solve the whereabouts of Colin Chapman’s hat?
Colin’s famous cap last spotted on display on the Group Lotus stand at this years Geneva auto show. Heres a pic: http://www.seloc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Geneva_20120306_0039.jpg
Tony has it on display on a very special private luggage carousel?
Was last seen on display on the Group Lotus stand at this years Geneva Auto Show
To paraphrase Henry II, “Will no one rid us of this troublesome CEO”?
Declaration of interest here in case anyone spots me doing some fundraising!
I’m making a TV doc about the turmoil of the last couple of years at Lotus. It will be editorially independent but I will be giving the folks at Hethel a chance to put their side of the story.
This latest story just adds to my production notes! Keep an eye open if you’re interested in getting involved or PM me if you have something to say, I’ll be pulling in anyone here with a passionate view if you’d like to take part, that includes the camera shy owner of the blog!
Be careful what you ask for….
Too late. The sixty minute already starts to look like 2×45. Good for me!
Hi Nick, have you looked at things like “Kickstarter” where people who want to buy your product pledge the purchase price, so you know your market before you start, and have either the headline sum or a good portion in hand?
Sorry, I don’t know exactly how that works, but it’s very interesting, and I have casually read of docus and all sorts of cool projects being funded through that. I think I read of at least one on Philip Bloom’s blog.
I better nip over to your blog for anything else, but I’d love to do something positive towards that. Anything which can better explain companies in dire straits appeals to me. I guess that is close to my heart – if I hadn’t witnessed my first employer spectacularly imploding, all that grief, I would have had a very different and possibly much duller path in life.
Thanks John, Kickstarter is well known to us – USA only sadly, USf1 should have tried it lol… but we are doing something similar in the UK, it’s working out ok and we have some options on TV channels. PM me as you rightly say off here as I don’t want to use Joes blog to promote my work lol.
I do intend to extend a formal an invitation directly to Group Lotus to participate later in the summer by which time I’m sure their plans will be clearer, and we’ll also be filming in the USA and the Far East.
Thanks everyone for your support – had several mails and I’m flattered and humbled by the comments therein.
Incidentally, because this highlights the mill of churnalism that goes on, especially with court case reporting, which I mean as a proxy for anything requiring proper inspection, I recommend taking a look at Thom Hogan’s front page piece today at http://www.bythom.com about how rumors are being pushed around about Nikon’s camera supply. Hogan is one of the very very few serious journalists on the web in photography, and has a serious CV to back it up, going back to being marketing point man at Osbourne computers, so he is someone to be reckoned with. His piece today (beware he does know his website buries things and is disorganised, just a huge job to change so big a thing, but it may be shoved to archive soon if you are looking at this a week from now) wonderfully describes the “lifecycle” of how nonsense gets regurgitated. Slice by slice, he dissects a hyped up “controversy” that is being taken far too seriously in the world of photography and gadget websites. Calls out a chinese whisper game. Please do read it, it’s instructional and educative as to how similarly all sorts of nonsense floats around F1 websites out there, or in fact anywhere where people do not check facts, are not in contact with the players, are not on the ground, are after a quick advertising buck, and so on. If you just like photography, he’s very good at writing about that, too! Oh, and he can write, he’s pure laconicism compared with me
Churnalism lol churnalism… So good. Consider that word stolen. I’m off with it and you’ll never see it again. I cannot possibly wait to see one of my former BBC colleagues and call him a churnalist. Joy.
OMG I’m replying to my own posts. Sat in a meeting with a client today, they were bemoaning the lack of good writing out there and commenting on recycled stories, ….bang! I got the word in… “To be honest David, it’s simply ‘Churnalism’ isn’t it?”
Ha, brilliant!
I wonder if we can get “Gurnalism” out there too?
For those not familiar with English oddities : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurn
I’m just not sure whether that’s how these writers actually look when trying to reconcile their morals, or the reaction readers have when reading, but I think it’s a fair combination of strange sports practised by contorted people . . .
Not my word, Nick, but do steal away, it sums up so much!
Actually I can’t recall when I first came across it. Might have origins in the geek world, kind who suffer building all these websites to puke out drivel and bile posing as reportage . .
Being beastly to the BBC? Tut tut, they are sadly only going with the flow. I’m being protective of just one reporter I grew up at school with, who never caught the rot. But, yeah, give’m heck, might just save the good ones, give them a chance
Not often I read any CA codes, but this might be of interest:
http://www.nossaman.com/catching-waiver
I see there can be angles here:
“Probably every California lawyer knows Section 1542 of the Civil Code, which reads: “General Release – Claims Extinguished: A General Release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him or her must have materially affected his or settlement with the debtor.”
This statute has stood without amendment since 1872. ”
On cursory reading, to me this is fascinating stuff, because it appears to preclude discovery of tort in the effect of the contract. In other words, very very crudely, if Penske et.al. found that something was lacking, after the time they signed, they may have a bit of a problem arguing they can make an issue out of it. Maybe that explains the tacked on defamation claim.
It sounds to me topsy turvey, but US state laws always surprise me one way or another.
There seems to be fair logic in the idea of caveat emptor, applying to this Section. As in you get what you get, grow a backbone, wipe your mouth, and I can see that appealing both commercially and culturally.
But it is to my mind apposite to the discovery of tort that arises in E&W law in the creation of effective contract by action. Further, this CA code – please allow me this is just my first inspection over a morning coffee – appears overrides any concept of implied warranty.
Joking now, but I can see why the computer industry might have based itself in the Valley – boy would such temporally robust codes have given you an edge shifting the half complete mess that is your average computer!!
I’ve always understood that it is standard corporate legal practice that the difference in state laws is carefully looked at and the papers filed in the state which has laws which are most beneficial to the action. I suppose this is why they chose CA?
One hopes that’s what happens, just as I have to consider sales contract law around Europe, even if my place of business is here, you ideally don’t risk being sued elsewhere, or where you have less competence or resources.
But then huge US computer companies frequently fight to get trials heard in backwaters where jurors are less knowledgeable of the industry and are of habit to award amazing sums in damages.
What I was thinking of, in my not entirely a joke at the end, was when you pay fortunes for say a database license and barely any of the claimed features work. Having place of sale in a state with statutes like the above, would tremendously favor the vendor. I’m not going to name names, however obvious, because there is so much literature on the subject, but the winner in the database industry grew so fast because of a “fix it later” attitude. They accumulated market share so fast they starved the competition. That very nearly ruined them, as well, but consider the mindset and the momentum of money. Too Big To Fail applies in all kinds of industries, to varying degrees.
I guess perfectionists get very few breaks in life unless artist, musician or writer!
My excuse I never came across this before, is because about all that has mattered to directly me has ever been federal trademark and copyright law.
Nevertheless, I like the state law system of quasi – independence. Choice of culture is key to human survival, I believe.
There’s a relevant debate on the link, below, about how Adobe are pushing upgrades because they prefer to not fix dangerous flaws in what they shipped last year:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3952263
a bit less esoteric than discussing indirectly arcana of things like clustering databases, all of which subject is fairly impenetrable without study or experience. Having a security risk because of a expensive piece of software you may make a living from, say as a designer, is more understandable a concern. But also note Adobe are trying to make ongoing subscriptions a sensible and affordable option. Just the risk then, is they will keep hiking the rates. They don’t call it the “Adobe tax” for nothing . .
(Obviously a California company!)
So I’ve just returned to Singapore and in last Sunday’s Straits Times there’s an article on the unwinding of the deal between Tony and the Malaysian Gov’t that netted Tony 20% of Malaysia Air. Part of that deal was reportedly the transfer of the Team Lotus rights.
Now I’m wondering if the deal is undone and Tony had to return the 20% of MAS does that mean he gets Team Lotus back?
No