Good news, Drew Brees: You’ve won a verdict of $6.1 million against a San Diego jeweler.
Bad news, Drew Brees: The process is just getting started.
Vahid Moradi’s lawyer already has declared that an appeal of the jury verdict is coming. Most civl cases entail various grounds on which a plausible appeal can be based. Whether the appeals courts respond favorably depends on plenty of factors, from prevailing precedent in the state where the action unfolded (in this case, California) to the politics of the judges who will handle the appeals, to the ability of the lawyers to argue persuasively for or against a reduction or scrapping of the verdict.
Then comes the question of whether Moradi even has $6.1 million to give to Brees. If Moradi has the money, he may drag his feet, forcing Brees to jump through a variety of hoops to collect. Of course, prejudgment interest (10 percent in many jurisdictions) creates a strong disincentive to delay payment.
Beyond appeals and payment is the question of whether Brees hired his lawyers on an hourly basis or with a contingency fee. If it’s the latter, Brees could be forking over upwards of $2 million to his attorneys, if Brees gets the full amount of the verdict. If it’s the former, the final bill will be significant (maybe $200,000 to $400,000) but not exorbitant.
Regardless, Brees obtained vindication on Friday from a jury that saw him not as a sucker but as someone who was suckered in.
“I think the jury saw Mr. Moradi for what he is, and that’s a con man,” Brees’ lawyer, Andrew Kim, said. "[The jury] did find that he committed fraud both by affirmative misrepresentations and also concealing facts that were within his knowledge but that the Breeses couldn’t know, and that was all part of a scheme to do exactly what Mr. Moradi did, and that was to make an illicit $6 million profit when he wasn’t supposed to make any profit at all.”
That’s a clear win for Brees and his wife. But the process will continue, possibly for many more months, before they even begin to get cash from Moradi.