After 13 years of legal dispute, the auto company Ford and its now insolvent Thuringian ex-supplier Mitec have reached a settlement. Mitec founder Michael Militzer and a regional representative of IG Metall confirmed one on Sunday Report of the “Welt am Sonntag”. According to Militzer, it is about ten million euros that Ford will pay to the Mitec insolvency administrator to end the lawsuit.
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Component data allegedly leaked to competitor
The dispute concerned a component that Mitec had initially manufactured for Ford. The supplier had accused the group of having passed on drawings and data for the so-called mass balancing system to a competitor in Mexico in order to be able to obtain it cheaper from them.
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Founder speaks of “scandal”
Militzer called the agreement a “scandal”. He told MDR THÜRINGEN on Sunday that the insolvency administrator would have had to sue the law firm entrusted with the legal dispute for providing incorrect advice. The ten million euros are intended for Ford to buy rights from Mitec. It’s a trick to go out of the case with a clean slate. His family was also asked not to report publicly about the settlement. Militzer had told Welt am Sonntag that Ford was only paying ten million euros, although the damage would certainly amount to 80 to 100 million.
A spokesman for the insolvency administrator did not want to comment on the comparison – neither with “Welt am Sonntag” or with MDR THÜRINGEN.
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Mitec sold at the end of 2019
According to IG Metall, the comparison concerns the insolvency proceedings. The Eisenach representative Uwe Laubach told MDR THÜRINGEN on Sunday that with the payment the insolvency administrator could serve claims from creditors of the old Mitec. The comparison has nothing to do with Mitec’s successor company.
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