A U.S. District judge in Florida on Jan. 5 ordered BR-111 Imports & Exports Inc. (Medley, Fla.) to pay Triangulo Flooring and Panels (Curitiba, Brazil) nearly $1.56 million as part of an arbitration settlement reached in September 2010.
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A U.S. District judge in Florida on Jan. 5 ordered BR-111 Imports & Exports Inc. (Medley, Fla.) to pay Triangulo Flooring and Panels (Curitiba, Brazil) nearly $1.56 million as part of an arbitration settlement reached in September 2010.
The arbitration award comprises about $1 million for unpaid invoices, $250,280 for interest on those invoices, and $300,472 for Triangulo's attorneys' fees and a portion of arbitration costs. The award also stipulates that Triangulo must pay BR-111 $42,596 for outstanding warranty claims and interest on those claims.
The dispute started in October 2008. Until then, Triangulo was a private label supplier of engineered wood flooring for BR-111. In a Dec. 15, 2010, press release, BR-111 said that after the two companies severed ties, BR-111 ceased distributing any product under the Triangulo trademark. However, Doug Leigh, Triangulo's director of operations in North America, has said that even after the two companies split, BR-111 continued branding product as "Triangulo Engineered" but sourced it from other manufacturers. Leigh said this product was the one for which customers were submitting warranty claims.
In addition to the payment, the final award, issued by Judge William Hoeveler of Florida's southern district, determined that Triangulo is the rightful owner of the trademark "Triangulo Engineered" and that BR-111 has no right to use the mark.
A final award in the dispute was arbitrated and then entered Sept. 27, 2010. Triangulo took court action to enforce the arbitration award, but on Dec. 9, 2010, BR-111 asked the court to vacate the award, claiming it was denied due process during the arbitration proceeding. Hoeveler heard final arguments from both parties on Dec. 7. "BR-111 has failed to demonstrate any basis for vacating the Final Award," Hoeveler wrote.
"We are pleased with the result, especially because an arbitration tribunal and now the courts have both agreed that Triangulo owns our brand of Triangulo Engineered products," said Doug Leigh, Triangulo's director of operations in North America. "While the outstanding receivables were also a point of the arbitration and also upheld, we are most excited that our brand, Triangulo Engineered, can again be associated with quality products."
BR-111 President Ricardo Moraes said his company has already filed an appeal of the court's latest decision. To file an appeal in Florida's southern district, an appeal bond of 110% of the judgment must be posted, which in this case is about $1.7 million. Moraes declined to comment further. To date, Florida's southern district court has not received BR-111's appeal.
Regarding the $42,596 BR-111 was awarded for warranty claims and interest, Hoeveler wrote, "BR-111 presumably presented full support during the arbitration process as to each of the warranty claims it advanced."
