“He never broke any promise,” Melsheimer said. “He did exactly what he said he’d do. He didn’t deceive Mamma.”
The jury was selected yesterday. The parties’ lawyers have told U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater they expect the trial to last eight to 10 days.
Possible Acquisitions
Fitzwater warned yesterday that that schedule may be disrupted by the shutdown of non-essential federal government services due to the legislative impasse between U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans controlling the House of Representatives.
Cuban was the biggest stockholder of Montreal-based company now known as Copernic Inc., holding 6.3 percent of its shares, and had offered to use his fame to promote the company and assist it with possible acquisitions, according to a Sept. 25 pretrial filing by Fitzwater summarizing each side’s claims.
Mamma.com fell 8.5 percent on June 30, 2004, the first trading day after the private placement was announced, and 15 percent the day after his sale was disclosed in a regulatory filing made public on July 2, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cuban, 08-cv-02050, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).