Gold v. Ziff Communications Co.

State: Illinois

Court: 1st District Appellate

Docket No: 1-99-3142 Rel

Case Date: 03/31/2001

SECOND DIVISION
MARCH 31, 2001

1-99-3142

ANTHONY R. GOLD, PC BRAND, INC.,
SOFTWARE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.,
HANSON & CONNORS, INC.,

Plaintiffs and
Counterdefendants-Appellees,

ZIFF COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY, d/b/a
ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY,

Defendant and
Counterplaintiff-Appellant.

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Appeal from the
Circuit Court
of Cook County

No. 95 L 8516

The Honorable
Richard E. Neville,
Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE COUSINS delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs Anthony Gold (Gold), PC Brand, Inc. (PC Brand), SoftwareCommunications, Inc. (SCI), and Hanson & Connors, Inc. (Hanson), sueddefendant Ziff Communications Company, doing business as Ziff-Davis PublishingCompany (Ziff), for breach of contract, seeking damages arising from Ziff'salleged breach of an agreement which provided that any company controlled byGold could advertise in Ziff's publications at reduced rates. This action waspreviously before this court in Gold v. Ziff Communications, 265 Ill.App. 3d 953, 638 N.E.2d 756 (1994) (Gold II), which remanded for trialthe "control" issue, i.e., "the question of whether Goldviolated the terms of the amended Ad/List agreement with his holdings in PCBrand." Gold II, 265 Ill. App. 3d at 965.

After a five-week trial, the jury found Ziff liable and awarded two verdicts:(1)$44,580,000 to PC Brand, Inc./Gold for future lost profits and business valuedamages; and (2) $10,800,000 to Hanson & Connors, Inc./SCI/Gold for futurelost profits and business value damages. The trial court subsequently awardedprejudgment interest of $26,773,834.58 to PC Brand, Inc./Gold and $6,486,265.27to Hanson & Connors, Inc./SCI/Gold.

Ziff now appeals, arguing that: (1) the trial court erred by accepting theclaims of multiple plaintiffs on a single verdict form; (2) PC Brand and Hansonwere not proper plaintiffs; (3) evidence failed to support the jury