Inventor Gets $5.5 Million More in Damages Against Harley-Davidson

An inventor who alleged that the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company stole his design for an engine exhaust system was awarded $5.5 million in punitive damages Wednesday by a county jury, a verdict that one company official attacked as “outrageous and shocking.”

The punitive award to Christy Dello of Norco is in addition to at least $1.2 million in compensatory damages granted here Tuesday by the same Superior Court jury.

Dello, 51, did not attend the court session Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But his attorney, Joel Wohlfiel of La Jolla, said that although the amount was actually far short of what Dello had sought--20% of Harley-Davidson’s net worth, estimated at $195 million--his client is pleased with the award.

“After this verdict, (Harley-Davidson) should think twice before they do again to someone else what they did” to Dello, Wohlfiel said.

However, Harley-Davidson’s attorney, Joseph J. O’Malley, said: “The basic verdict was incorrect, and you can bet there will be an appeal.”

Dello had accused Harley-Davidson officials of committing fraud by first promising him a share of the profits from sales of an exhaust pipe he had invented, then cutting off business with him after he handed over a blueprint of his design.

The verbal agreement, Dello said, was made in 1980 by the company’s then-assistant product manager, John Heiman.

Heiman also promised that Dello would be the company’s sole supplier of the custom universal exhaust pipe, developed to fit all of Harley-Davidson’s FX-series motorcycles, Wohlfiel said.

However, in 1985, while working as a project manager for a motorcycle parts manufacturing company in Long Beach, Dello happened to see a prototype of a system resembling his own design, Wohlfiel said.

When he confronted the company’s owner, Dello discovered that companies other than Harley-Davidson had access to his design, Wohlfiel added.

Dello alleged that his personal life suffered as a result of his dealings with Harley-Davidson, and he had to close his business, FUBAR of Anaheim, and file for bankruptcy in 1984.

But Tim Hoelter, Harley-Davidson’s vice president and general counsel, called the verdict “shocking and outrageous.”

According to Hoelter, Harley-Davidson should not have been held responsible for what happened in 1980 because the officials allegedly involved in dealings with Dello had left the company before the suit was filed.

“The jurors do not have a proper understanding of the evidence presented,” Hoelter said. “We do not understand how it arrived at punitive damages. What we’ve heard from the jury is not the last that will be heard. No, not by a long shot.”

Several jurors, however, said that the evidence against Harley-Davidson was damaging and that some of the company’s witnesses gave conflicting testimony.

“There were opportunities for the defense to present its case, but the witnesses didn’t seem to recollect their depositions,” said Sam Stoughton, 44, of Silverado Canyon.