Jury foreman in $1.05 billion Samsung v. Apple case has a serious conflict of interest

Samsung filed over a dozen exhibits in court today in its effort to get the $1.05 billion verdict against it thrown out.  Several of Samsung’s post-trial arguments are trivial, but the most notable concerns the jury foreman Velvin Hogan, who Samsung has accused of juror misconduct. Samsung alleges that Hogan had a significant conflict of interest and argues for the verdict to be thrown out.

Here are the facts: Hogan owns a patent. He also was sued by Seagate (which is now partially owned by Samsung) in 1993, which led him to declare bankruptcy. He did not mention that fact during jury selection. Also, in post-trial interviews, Hogan used phrases like “this trial… protected copyrights and intellectual property rights, no matter who they belonged to.” During jury selection, he said he did not have “strong feelings” about the patent system.

While the lawyers will decide whether Hogan’s history and actions call for a retrial, at the very least this adds perspective to the large $1.05 billion verdict. Apparently, Hogan used his experience with the patent system to educate his fellow jurors, which is a big no-no. Peeks at the voir dire transcript also don’t jive with Hogan’s statements. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, these developements are a pretty big bummer for a guy who told The Verge that “except for my family, it [jury service] was the high point of my career… you might even say my life.”

Take a look Samsung’s whole filing here. And for more legal perspective, Groklaw is going an excellent job parsing the documents.

Kif Leswing
Categories: Apple, General
Tags: Apple Inc, patents