LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles County judge Thursday threw out a $78 million fraud verdict that had become a major political embarrassment to California gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon.
Superior Court Judge James Chalfant said in a written ruling that the evidence in the case did not support the huge verdict against Simon's family investment firm in a lawsuit over its 1998 investment in a Los Angeles County pay telephone company.
"The court does not set aside a jury's fraud verdict lightly, but substantial evidence does not support the fraud claim, and the jury's verdict cannot stand," the judge wrote. "Judgment notwithstanding, the verdict must be entered in favor of William E. Simon & Sons."
Simon, who had vociferously predicted that the verdict would be overturned, said Thursday that Chalfant's ruling would allow him to focus on the issues in the remaining weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
"I am extremely gratified that the courts ruled as we always said they would," Simon declared. "This will allow us to focus the campaign on the issues that matter most to California families."
Simon himself had not been personally named in the lawsuit, but the jury's July 30 verdict and $78 million award in favor of the plaintiff, Paul Edward Hindelang of Santa Barbara, stunned the Simon campaign as it struggled to cut Gov. Gray Davis' lead in the polls. Simon trailed Davis by 7 points in a recent Field Poll, but 22 percent of the respondents were still undecided.
According to media reports, the verdict had proven to be an embarrassment to the White House at a time when corporate fraud was a major issue on Capitol Hill and in the national press.
Bush made a fundraising trip in late August to California where he raised nearly $3 million for Simon and other Republican candidates, but primarily appeared with Simon only during semi-private events.
Chalfant wrote that there was no evidence to support the jury's determination that Simon & Sons had committed fraud by keeping Hindelang out of the loop about plans to take his company public. The judge also said Hindelang had been in a position to object to any business decisions, and determined that Hindelang had concealed a past drug conviction from the firm during negotiations on the $26 million investment, which Simon & Sons lost.
