Los Angeles, California – After a five-month trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury decided to give $7 billion to four brothers who said their other brother wrongly took money and property from them, breaking a verbal agreement about their family business. This lawsuit, which started in February 2003, ended with the jury’s decision on Monday.
The four winning brothers received $2.5 billion for the money that was taken and over $4.5 billion for the value of the properties involved. This makes their win one of the biggest in the U.S. for the year, as stated by their lawyers. The disagreement was about who owned more than 170 apartment buildings with 17,000 units, mostly located in the San Fernando Valley, and all the brothers originally come from India.
Haresh Jogani, on paper, was the owner of these properties. His lawyers argued that there was no such family agreement as his brothers claimed, saying he was the rightful single owner. However, his brothers disagreed, and the jury sided with them, finding that Haresh owed Rajesh Jogani and Chetan Jogani $750 million, plus property worth over $1 billion.
Peter Ross, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, expressed gratitude towards the jury for their verdict, mentioning that it corrected a long-standing issue and hoped it would end the family dispute.
The rest of the award, $4.75 billion, went to Shashikant Jogani and $570 million to Shailesh Jogani. The jury also decided that Rajesh, Chetan, and Shashikant should get extra money as punishment, with a special meeting about this set for Friday.
