Triumph and Eaton Settle Litigation for $135 Million

Triumph Group, Inc. announced the settlement of all pending litigation involving the company and its subsidiary, Triumph Actuation Systems – Clemmons, LLC (formerly known as Frisby Aerospace, LLC), and Eaton Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries. As part of the settlement, Eaton has agreed to pay Triumph $135,300,000 in cash.

The Mississippi Supreme Court previously affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of all claims of trade secret misappropriation brought in Mississippi by Eaton and its affiliates against the company, Triumph Actuation Systems – Clemmons and six engineers employed by Triumph Actuation Systems who had formerly worked for an Eaton subsidiary. As part of the settlement, Triumph agreed to dismiss with prejudice all counterclaims associated with the litigation, as well as claims brought in Mississippi and North Carolina by Triumph, its subsidiary and the engineers against Eaton and its affiliates for wrongful conduct and anticompetitive activity in bringing and maintaining the trade secret claims. The rest of the terms of the settlement are confidential.

Jeffry D. Frisby, Triumph’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “The settlement announced today brings to an end almost ten years of costly and burdensome litigation, and should eliminate any doubt about Triumph’s right to compete legitimately in the market for aerospace hydraulic pumps and motors and hydraulic systems. We look forward to deploying with renewed energy the full range of our talents and expertise toward the development of advanced technology products and solutions for our hydraulic product and systems customers.”

Eaton filed suit in 2004 in Mississippi against Frisby Aerospace, LLC, now a Triumph Group subsidiary known as Triumph Actuation Systems - Clemmons, LLC, alleging trade secret misappropriation. North Carolina-based Frisby Aerospace denied the charges and later filed suit against Eaton in North Carolina and Mississippi, alleging anticompetitive behavior.

“We believe it is in the best interests of our shareholders to put this matter behind us,” said Alexander M. Cutler, chairman and chief executive officer of Eaton. “We have been pursuing the return of our information and documents for ten years, and we are pleased the information and documents will be returned as part of the settlement. Both parties are best served by a permanent resolution of the matter.”