Fire Ladder Inventors Awarded $116 Million
From Times Wire Services
A federal jury has awarded $116 million to the young inventors of a fire-escape ladder who said their design was stolen by a national fire-safety company.
The Norfolk, Va., jury awarded $21 million in compensatory damages and $95 million in punitive damages against Walter Kidde Portable Equipment Inc. of Mebane, N.C.
Students Aldo DiBelardino of Virginia Beach and Andrew Ive of San Francisco invented the ladder as part of a class project at Harvard Business School.
