De Beers and W.B. David tussle continues

The court registered default by DeBeers on November 15, 2005 and the complaint was sent to the magistrate judge to compute an appropriate amount of damages to the petitioner. �The award amount would be forthcoming, either by the court date set, December 5, 2005, or shortly after should they need an extension,� said Richard Howoritz, attorney, W.B.David�s.

W.B. David was a long-time Diamond Trading Company sightholder, but was dropped as a sightholder in 2003. Diamond trading giant De Beers didnt respond to a lawsuit filed against them by W.B. David & Co. Inc., claiming that De Beers had deprived W.B. David of its source of supply and stole its proprietary marketing initiative in July 2004. The case originally named some 90 defendants in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. But seventeen months later the case boils down to defining a final award for the plaintiff. In July 2004, W.B. David sought a $100 million settlement and claimed De Beers violated anti-trust laws and was guilty of racketeering, fraud, unfair competition, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. Horowitz said in an interview that, �the original amount may or may not be the final amount. When we are fully prepared to submit the figure to the magistrate judge the figure could be the same or different.� Currently W.B. David is out of business, and he didnt know how a settlement would impact their situation.

Judge Richard Fox commented, �De Beers would be given an opportunity to respond to the clarified amount.� Fox hand wrote on the court documents that, "A partys default, occasioned by its failure to appear timely, answer or make a motion with respect to a complaint, constitutes a concession of all the well pleaded allegations of liability. In such circumstances, damages that are not susceptible of mathematical computation by a plaintiff must be first established by W.B. David, and then De Beers may challenge the amount.� Fox denied the instant application of awarding the amount with notifying De Beers, as requested by W.B. David attorneys.