Jury Awards $1 Million to Intec Video Systems

Intec Video Systems has won a $1-million malpractice suit against a law firm for alleged negligence in connection with Intec’s purchase of a now-defunct Woodland Hills firm named Celtic Technologies.

A Ventura County Superior Court jury decided that the law firm, Pillsbury, Madison, Sutro, Lillick & McHose, should pay the amount to Intec, said R. Allan Kuhlman, an attorney with Intec’s law firm, Read, Miguelez & Dib.

Pillsbury, Madison represented both Intec and Celtic in their 1986 merger. But in its suit, Intec argued that Pillsbury, Madison “ignored” certain tax aspects of the deal, causing Intec to lose $723,000 in tax savings that Intec had planned to invest in Celtic, Kuhlman said.

Two months after the merger, Celtic was forced into bankruptcy, he said.

Stephen Stublarec, a partner with Pillsbury, Madison in San Francisco, said his firm was studying whether to seek a new trial or to ask the court to overturn the jury’s verdict.