Techmedia Ordered to Pay $100 Million
Garden Grove-based Techmedia Computer Systems and its owner, Andrew Park, have been ordered in court to pay nearly $100 million to its former supplier and a bank.
A jury awarded the sums this week, culminating a six-week civil trial in Orange County Superior Court. The case stemmed from a contract dispute that began two years ago between Techmedia, a computer and electronics distributor, and South Korea-based Tae Il Media Co., which had supplied the large majority of Techmedia’s inventory since 1994.
As part of the judgment against Techmedia, Judge Theodore Millard placed a $7-million lien against Park’s Laguna Niguel home and a $15-million lien against the company’s headquarters.
The jury found that Techmedia and Park owed $122 million for breaching a distribution agreement, not paying for products supplied by Tae Il. The company was also ordered to pay $27 million in damages and interest to Cho Hung Bank, a Korean bank that acted as a financier between the two companies.
Tae Il, however, owed Techmedia $50 million for terminating their distribution agreement without giving the company the required notice under their contract.
An attorney for Techmedia said an appeal will be filed and that the company disputes the amount of money that should be awarded.
“We have a big disagreement over what the judgment means,” said Raymond Kaiser, the company’s attorney.
It is unclear whether Techmedia has the money to pay the judgment. Company officials did not return calls.
“We are going to be taking all steps to trace and track down and collect the money that’s owed to us,” said James Turken, an attorney for Tae Il. “We intend to pursue it aggressively.”
In 1997, Techmedia held up payments to Tae Il because of alleged problems with quality control and delayed shipments, Kaiser said. At the time, Tae Il supplied about 80% of Techmedia’s inventory.
Because Techmedia refused to pay for the shipments, Tae Il stopped delivering products to the company, leading Techmedia to sue Tae Il, which then sued Techmedia.
