A jury in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon ordered lawyers who were accused of dumping one set of clients to get involved in a more lucrative case to pay $10.8 million for violating their duty of loyalty to three small water bottlers.
The small companies were close to settling a claim worth close to $39 million with Nestle Waters North America, the owner of Poland Spring Water Co., in June 2003 that involved a complex dispute between the companies alleging that Poland Spring water is mislabeled because it is pumped from a well at such volumes that it could include contaminated surface water. However, rather than see the settlement through, the legal team for the three companies is alleged to have dumped the three water bottlers as clients to start a class action suit for consumers of Poland Spring Water, as this would be a more lucrative venture. Given that Nestle would be faced with fighting the lawsuits, it withdrew its settlement offer to the bottlers. (Mar-23-06) [SEATTLE TIMES]
