Supreme Court rejects appeal of $4.3M verdict in PPE delivery case
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The Indiana Supreme Court has rejected Vannin Healthcare Global’s petition to transfer, after the company sought for the high court to hear an appeal of a $4.3 million jury verdict rendered for Lafayette-based Illumination International LLC in a dispute involving the delivery of medical gloves.
Chief Justice Loretta Rush issued the order Feb. 15, with all justices concurring.
In December 2022, the Indiana Commercial Court in Marion Superior Court entered a judgment awarding Illumination, an importer of medical products, $4,358,342 in damages in its lawsuit against Vannin Healthcare Global Ltd., a company based in the Isle of Man, according to court records.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed in August a trial court’s judgment for Illumination International, which put a down payment toward the purchase of 705,300 boxes of nitrile gloves in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but never received the full order of gloves.
Illumination filed a lawsuit that alleged Vannin failed to deliver 705,000 boxes of nitrile medical gloves during the height of the pandemic and failed to return Illumination’s $2.8 million down payment.
A jury found in favor of Illumination, finding that Vannin had breached the parties’ contract.
Vannin appealed, arguing the trial court erred in denying its motion for a directed verdict and that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict.
The appellate court disagreed, finding there was conflicting evidence at trial as to whether Vannin breached the parties’ contract that created a question of fact that needed to be resolved by the jury.
Anthony Dowell of Dowell Commercial Litigation represented Illumination International LLC and said he and I Yang “Rick” Li, Illumination International’s president and CEO, were very pleased with the high court’s ruling, but not surprised because “it was a frivolous appeal to begin with.”
“Vannin’s arguments on appeal were absurd, which is reflected in the Appellate court’s decision. And the Indiana Supreme Court had no reason to accept transfer of the case. There were no important or conflicting issues of law involved in this case, and we had a jury verdict. Vannin was just delaying the inevitable day of reckoning with these frivolous appeals,” Dowell said in an email to Indiana Lawyer.
Li said he was extremely satisfied with the outcome and at the same time not surprised.
“I have complete faith in the legal system to bring justice but must criticize others weaponizing the legal system and process to delay the inevitable. They are wasting public resources and time and it is an attorney’s job to provide good advice and reason with their client,” Li said.
On Aug. 10, the High Court of the Isle of Man entered an injunction freezing the assets of Vannin Healthcare Global Limited and its owners, Oliver van Veen, Peter van Veen, Sally Oliver and Julian van Veen.
Dowell said Vannin had objected to the freezing order.
The injunction states that the named defendants, both Vannin and its owners, must not remove any assets that are in the Isle of Man up to the value of $4,744,497.
Dowell said he and Li are confident that Illumination will be paid.
He said the proceedings in the Isle of Man are going well and Dowell will soon be filing pleadings to collect from Vannin’s commonly owned American company and its American officers.
Samuel Nunberg, who serves as general counsel for Vannin, told Indiana Lawyer that the company filed its petition for transfer in good faith with the Indiana Supreme Court.
Nunberg said there were legitimate legal issues involved with Vannin’s efforts to appeal the verdict.
“We thank the Indiana Supreme Court for their consideration and move on from here,” Nunberg said, adding, “I think it was a close call myself, but it is what it is.”
Nunberg said Vannin would not be filing any further appeals of the verdict.