FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Jiangmen Benlida Printed Circuit Co., a Chinese PCB manufacturer, was ordered to pay US distributor Circuitronix nearly $7.6 million in damages after a federal jury found the company in breach of a distribution agreement.

Federal jurors in Florida found that Benlida exploited Circuitronix (CTX) once it hit rough financial straits, costing the distributor millions of dollars, capping off a years long legal battle that began with Benlida filing its own breach of contract claims against CTX.

In 2012, Benlida and CTX entered into a manufacturing agreement under which CTX would send circuit board designs to Benlida for manufacturing. The finished products were then sent back to the US for distribution. In June 2021, Benlida accused CTX of skipping out on $13.7 million worth of circuit board invoices. CTX denied Benlida’s claims and countersued, arguing that it was Benlida that owed CTX millions of dollars.

In filings to the court, CTX argued that Benlida demanded advance payments for the circuit boards but failed to properly credit payments to its account. Additionally, Benlida had sent out shipments late, incurring late fee penalties that further spiked its outstanding debt, CTX claimed. Before the jury, CTX’s attorney, Stephen Rosenthal, argued that the debt stemmed from cash flow problems on Benlida’s part, saying the manufacturer had improperly relied on CTX to solve them.

Months before the trial, CTX asked the Florida federal court to dispose of Benlida’s suit, arguing that nearly half of the invoices belonged to an affiliate, Circuitronix (Hong Kong) Ltd. CTX claimed responsibility for the remaining invoices but argued that it had already settled those payments in full.

US District Judge Robert Scola Jr. sided with CTX, agreeing with CTX that it couldn’t be held accountable for services charged by CTX Hong Kong.

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