LOS ANGELES / March 7, 2024 -- A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury today ordered a businessman from India to pay $3 billion in punitive damages for misappropriating billions of dollars in real estate assets from his brothers in violation of an oral family partnership agreement.
The punitive damages award brings the total verdict against Haresh Jogani to $10 billion, one of the largest verdicts in Los Angeles County history.
Following a five-month trial, jurors on Feb. 26 awarded the four successful brothers $2.5 billion in monetary damages and more than $4.5 billion in property interests.
Today, the same jury ordered Haresh Jogani to pay an additional $3 billion in punitive damages to three of his brothers: $1,050,000,000 to Chetan Jogani; $450,000,000 to Rajesh Jogani; and $1.5 billion Shashikant Jogani.
The trial before Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason in Los Angeles resolved a high-stakes legal dispute the brothers have been fighting for more than 20 years.
“The family is elated. They feel the jurors really saw them and heard their stories,” said Peter Ross of Ross LLP, counsel for Rajesh and Chetan. “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 arises out of a dispute between five brothers from India about more than 170 apartment buildings, incorporating 17,000 units, primarily in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles.
Haresh Jogani, is listed, on paper, as the owner of the properties. The other four brothers asserted that, in reality, Haresh Jogani was holding the properties on behalf of an oral family partnership – and the jury agreed.
The initial $7 billion verdict was awarded as follows: $750 million in damages and $1 million in real estate interests to Rajesh and Chetan Jogani, who were represented by Ross; $4.75 billion to Shashikant Jogani, represented by Steven Friedman and Michael Friedman of Friedman LLP; and $570 million to Shailesh Jogani, represented by Lawrence Ecoff and Alberto Campain of Ecoff Campain & Kay LLP.
The case is Jogani v. Jogani, Los Angeles County Superior Court case BC290553.
Media contact: Stuart Pfeifer
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