Fulbright & Jaworski Announces Widow's Win in Long Battle Against Raytheon Company; Dallas Jury Awards $6.8 Million to Inventor's Widow for Failure to Pay Royalties

DALLAS--Oct. 3, 20031, 2003--On October 30 in the U.S. District Court, a Dallas jury awarded Rockwall, Texas-resident Reba Mansell $6.8 million for Raytheon Company's failure to pay ten years of royalties on her late husband's invention, one of the world's first vehicle tracking systems using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology. Fulbright & Jaworski partners Karl G. Dial, Brett C. Govett and Senior Associate Jeff Kemp represented Mrs. Mansell in Reba Mansell v. Raytheon Company.

In a two-week jury trial in Federal Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn's courtroom, the jury affirmed Mrs. Mansell's case that Raytheon Company had failed to pay the four percent royalty on all sales of the automated vehicle location system which used GPS to track the location of fleet vehicles and "generations thereof." The late Don Mansell was one of the world's pioneers in using this technology.

"Raytheon did not believe Mrs. Mansell would ever challenge its refusal to pay what was promised, which was like a slap in the face to Mrs. Mansell. This GPS system was the legacy from her husband," said Karl G. Dial, one of the Fulbright & Jaworski trial lawyers who represented Mrs. Mansell.

Six months after Don Mansell's death in 1993, Mrs. Mansell sold their family-owned business, Auto-Trac, Inc., to E-Systems in exchange for the 4% royalty. E-Systems was merged with Raytheon in 1996. The contract with Mrs. Mansell also required her written consent if Auto-Trac was sold as a business unit. Raytheon violated its contract with Mrs. Mansell by selling to Orbital Science without Mrs. Mansell's consent.

"This was a case of a large company ignoring its obligations to pay for technology it acquired," said Brett C. Govett, also of Fulbright & Jaworski. "The jury in Judge Lynn's courtroom agreed."

Reba Mansell is a long-time resident of Rockwall, Texas. Her late husband, Don Mansell, brought cable TV to rural west Texas during the 1960s before he had the idea to develop a vehicle tracking system.

The defendant Raytheon Company is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., and provides defense, government and commercial electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With more than 76,000 people worldwide, Raytheon reported $16.8 billion in sales in 2002.

Founded in 1919, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. is a leading full-service international law firm, with approximately 870 attorneys in 11 offices in Dallas, Houston, New York, Washington, D.C., Austin, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Hong Kong, London, and Munich. Fulbright provides a full range of legal services to both domestic and foreign clients worldwide.