Houston Chronicle

June 5, 1997

$2.5 million verdict

A jury returned a $2.5 million verdict Wednesday against a Chicago company for disrupting the Houston business of Presentation Resource Inc. by selling it faulty printing machinery.

The verdict found that M&R Printing Equipment Inc. breached its contract with PRI and committed civil fraud in the 1993 sale of a heavy color printing machine. PRI bought the specialty equipment as part of a major expansion , then found that it did not perform as promised by the Chicago company, causing PRI to lose substantial business and default on contracts that it had from other businesses.

Jurors returned the verdict in the court of state District Judge Dwight Jefferson.

John Tavormina, the Houston attorney representing PRI, praised the jury's findings as "a victory for the working man and for small business in general." The jury verdict included $1 million for past damages and $500,000 in future lost business. Attorneys for M&R could not be reached for comment.