Zunum awarded $72 million in Boeing lawsuit

Zunum Aero has been awarded $81.2 million, alongside $11.6 million for tortious interference, following its lawsuit against Boeing. However, for “failing to mitigate damages”, the amount awarded was reduced to £72 million. The amount could be tripled depending on a judge’s decision due to laws surrounding trade secrets. A jury, made up of nine people, agreed with Zunum that Boeing had “misappropriated 11 of Zunum’s trade secrets and enriched itself in the process”. Zunum, the Kirkland, Washington-based aviation start-up, had claimed that Boeing had “stolen trade secrets” to power hybrid-electric planes. Launching in 2017, Zunum started with plans to launch a fleet of 12-seat hybrid jets, with plans to launch in 2022. These plans were funded by backing from Boeing and EasyJet. In 2018, Zunum was forced to lay off the majority of its employees and vacate its headquarters as it “ran out of money” according to reports. Reuters reported that, despite receiving financial backing from Boeing, Zunum claimed in the court case that Boeing used Zunum’s ""specifications, insights, innovations, technology, and trade secrets"" to enable its other partner Safran to ""accelerate its development of hybrid electric aircraft by nearly two decades"" and ""displace Zunum from the very market that Zunum had innovated."" And according to Law360, Zunum alleged that Boeing copied its plans as Zunum was “contractually obligated to share the technology” and had kept telling Zunum co-founder Matt Knapp that Boeing “was interested in making a larger investment and becoming Zunum's sole investor, urging the company to shut down efforts to seek other investors”. Knapp had said that company was “working on closing a $60 million round with investors”, but in the end there was no large investment as no one “wanted to get on the wrong side of Boeing”, leading to Zunum being forced to close. In a statement on the judgement, Boeing said: “Boeing respectfully disagrees with the jury’s verdict, which is not supported by the law or the facts. “Boeing will pursue all available challenges to the judgment”.