E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.’s trade secrets case against Kolon Industries Inc., which climaxed in a now-vacated $920 million verdict for DuPont three years ago, is becoming one of those court fights that just won’t end. The wait for justice could get even longer if Kolon pulls off a bid to stay the lawsuit pending the resolution of a parallel criminal case that’s moving at an even more glacial pace.
Kolon’s lawyers at Paul Hastings and LeClairRyan made a plea for the stay in a motion filed on Monday with U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Va. The South Korean company asserted that DuPont won’t be hurt by a stay because the criminal case involves the same accusations as the civil case—Kolon allegedly pumped former DuPont employees for proprietary information about the best-selling fiber Kevlar—and because DuPont can trust the U.S. Department of Justice to represent its interests. On the other hand, Kolon maintains it won’t be able to adequately defend itself in the criminal case if the civil case unfolds in parallel.
