Anthony Levandowski Ordered to Pay $179 Million to Google, Files for Bankruptcy

Kirsten Korosec, reporting for TechCrunch:

An arbitration panel ruled in December that Levandowski and Lior Ron had engaged in unfair competition and breached their contract with Google when they left the company to start a rival autonomous vehicle company focused on trucking, called Otto. Uber acquired Otto in 2017. A San Francisco County court confirmed Wednesday the panel’s decision.

Ron settled last month with Google for $9.7 million. However, Levandowski, had disputed the ruling. The San Francisco County Superior Court denied his petition today, granting Google’s petition to hold Levandowski to the arbitration agreement under which he was liable.

I’ll go out on a limb and say it was a bad decision not to settle.

★ Thursday, 5 March 2020