After losing $1.05 billion and perhaps more during the late August patent-case decision; Samsung is fighting back in-attempt to lower that figure. While they obviously aren’t great at defending the designs of their devices, the Korean-based company has decided to take an alternative route. Samsung is questioning the jury one-by-one to find out what type of people completed the $1.05 billion verdict decision. One guy in particular seems highly suspicious, and Samsung wants to get to the bottom of this situation. Foreman, Velvin Hogan, was sued by Seagate Technology, and they happen to be owned by Samsung. As a result, they are crying that Hogan could have influenced the decision in a bias manner.
Velvin Hogan, when interviewed prior to being put on the jury mentioned that he was only involved in one lawsuit, but never mentioned being sued by a Samsung-owned company. The Seagate Technology suit demanded that Hogan pay back housing payments that he was assisted with. He wasn’t able to establish enough cash to pay anyone back, thus Hogan and his wife filed for bankruptcy.
“Mr. Hogan’s failure to disclose the Seagate suit raises issues of bias that Samsung should have been allowed to explore in questioning and that would have triggered a motion to strike for cause or a peremptory strike,” says Samsung lawyers
Hogan argues that the decision wasn’t influenced by his past. He said that “except for my family, it [jury service] was the high point of my career… you might even say my life,” and “that this trial was fair, and protected copyrights and intellectual property rights, no matter who they belonged to.”
Samsung wants Hogan to return during a future trial so his actions can be monitored. If he’s aware of his actions being examined, you know he’ll be on his best behavior.
Source: Arstechnica
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