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Toshiba Loses Bid for Cut in $465.4 Mln Lexar Verdict (Update2) Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The California Supreme Court declined to review a judge's decision to leave in place a $465.4 million jury award against Toshiba Corp. in a trade-secret suit by Lexar Media Inc., the fifth-largest U.S. trial verdict this year, according to Bloomberg data. Jurors in San Jose, California, found in March that Toshiba broke a 1997 agreement to co-develop flash memory storage for digital cameras and other devices, then shared the technology with SanDisk Corp., the biggest competitor of Fremont, California-based Lexar. It awarded $381.4 in actual damages and $81 million in punitive damages. Toshiba argued that $255.8 million of the total, the portion awarded for unjust enrichment, should be considered advisory only. The company asked Superior Court Judge Jack Komar to reduce or eliminate that portion. He refused, and Toshiba appealed. The state high court rebuffed the appeal today without explanation. Toshiba can again ask Komar to reduce or set aside that portion of the verdict during post-trial proceedings, and it can appeal the verdict under different legal theories. Jan Johnson, a Toshiba spokeswoman, said the Tokyo-based company will continue to pursue legal avenues ``to correct what we think is an erroneous jury verdict.' Komar's refusal to disturb the award on Sept. 30, sent Lexar's shares up 18 percent to $7.53 the next trading day. The shares today fell 22 cents to $7.93 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Toshiba shares were unchanged at 535 Japanese yen in trading in Tokyo. The case is Toshiba Corp. v. Superior Court, S138035, California Supreme Court (San Francisco).
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