Flextronics' Billion-Dollar Bolt from the Blue

Marks was clearly upset, at one point calling the verdict "bullshit" and "legalized extortion." Then catching himself, he said the suit was a "legitimate dispute between reasonable companies."

Although the company expects the judge to reduce the verdict, and to appeal if necessary, CFO Robert Dykes said the company may have to post an appeal bond of nearly $1.5 billion if the litigation continues. A bond of that size could hurt the company's credit standing, he said.

Marks also responded to criticism that he and other top officers have profited on the stocks volatility through heavy insider trading. "Executives at good companies sell into rallies," he said. Some Flextronics executives have large loans that can't be extended outstanding with the company. "They need a way to pay them back," Marks said.

Flextronics had a five-year contract to manufacturer parts for a blood analyzer sold by Beckman. According to Marks, Flextronics stopped producing the parts needed by Beckman when it shut a factory, part of the company's overall retrenchment. "They never missed a shipment or lost any sales," he said.

Beckman claims that Flextronics refused to return needed parts to Beckman unless the company also bought other parts in a Flextronics warehouse that weren't intended for Beckman.

Jury forewoman Myrtle Dupret told Reuters news service that the panel took great care in reaching a verdict and did not consider it excessive in light of the evidence. "We felt that Flextronics just honest-to-goodness did not care," Dupret said. "The evidence presented to us was clear and convincing to us that Flextronics did wrong. It was pretty shocking and an eye-opener for a lot of the jurors."

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