| Firm News |
In a unanimous verdict, the jury concluded that Katy Yang, had in concert with the Sherman Oaks, CA-based forensic accounting firm of White, Zuckerman, Luna, Warsawsky and Wolf LLP, illegally and secretly entered the offices of her husband Paul Yang’s business, Associated Securetech, in October 2000, taking six boxes of confidential files and then duplicating them in preparation for her divorce filing five months later.
According to Kelly G. Richardson of Richardson & Harman, PC, who represented Paul Yang, the files related to a business venture began in 1993 through which Associated Securetech provided the People’s Republic of China with a holographic anti-counterfeiting laminate which the country incorporated into its national identification cards. When the Chinese Government learned of the breach of security, its business relationship with Yang’s company was cancelled. After a two week trial, the jury unanimously found Katy Yang and the White Zuckerman firm guilty of trespass, invasion of privacy and conversion and awarded $3.4 million for the income lost when the business was destroyed. Commenting on the case, Richardson noted:
“What happened here to Mr. Yang was horribly wrong. This was his last major business success. The defendants’ zeal to gain an advantage over Mr. Yang caused them to completely lose sight of what is right and proper. I am gratified to see that the jury agreed, and helped my client recover what he lost.”
Paul Yang, who left China in 1957 and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1966, said he was pleased with the verdict and remarked: “I have confidence in the American jury system, and am grateful that justice was done.”