Secretarial Mistake Costs Pepsi $1.26 Billion

9gezegen writes "Pepsi learned that if it wants to continue to 'Refresh Everything,' it needs an extra $1.26 billion. It looks like one of the secretaries forget to inform company lawyers about a trade secrets case in a Wisconsin state court. When nobody arrived to court, the judge gave $1.26 billion default judgement. According to Pepsi lawyers, they were not properly served because the secretary was 'so busy preparing for a board meeting.' One might imagine she was working on the refreshments. Perhaps Pepsi should learn more about the Spamhaus case."

Comments

Right. It was the *secretary's* fault

[word munger]

It couldn't possibly be *management's* fault for creating a system in which a clerical error can result in a $billion-plus loss.

Re:Bad service?

[Maximum Prophet]

Default judgments are intended to allow worthy plaintiffs to recover when a defendant refuses to participate in the legal process.

so if they don't participate, how are you supposed to get the money from them?

This happens all the time. A Sheriff goes down the the company headquarters (or main branch in that state/city) and starts auctioning off items owned by the company.

In one case, when I was living in Austin TX, the sheriff came into a restaurant and took all the money out of the register. Then he waited as people paid their bills, and took that money too. When he had collected enough money to pay the debt, he chased everyone out, and sealed the doors.