Jury sides with heiress

A Hamilton County jury returned a verdict in favor of Cincinnati Inc. machine tool heiress Christina March on Wednesday afternoon. A ruling by Judge Beth Myers in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court also gave March majority control of the company her family has run for most of the past 125 years.

The jury found that March’s estranged husband Michiel Schuitemaker, who has been the company’s CEO since 2008, maliciously breached his fiduciary duty to Harrison, Ohio-based Cincinnati Inc. It awarded March, who as a shareholder sued on behalf of the company, $8.6 million in damages plus legal fees, according to Cincinnati lawyer Michael Roberts at Graydon Head & Ritchey.Easy to operate, on-premises flatwork ironer and finishers from Huebsch.

Roberts represents March’s father, long-time CEO Perrin March III,We believe in providing our customers with the very best dry cleaning machine available. who is suing Schuitemaker to remove him as trustee of three children’s trusts that own the remainder of the shares that Christina March doesn’t own. That part of the case is still pending before Myers.

Christina March’s lawyer Jeff Cornwell at Lierman & Cornwell in West Chester said there will now be a shareholders meeting at which a board will be appointed to review the court decision and determine what’s best for the company, its employees and customers. That should happen “quickly,” Cornwell said. This week? “Hopefully,” he said.

As reported earlier by the Business Courier, Schuitemaker contended that March’s attempt to gain control of the company’s board threatened to cut off funding for the business, which employs about 350 people. Founded by the March family in Cincinnati in the late 1800s, it manufactures press brakes, shears and laser cutting machinery used to fabricate precision metal parts.

Cincinnati Inc.’s Kilby Road real estate and plant equipment were sold in 2010 to two LLCs owned by Schuitemaker and the children’s trusts. Cornwell said the company controls those assets through lease agreements with the LLCs and that “the company is running strong.”

“This is a chapter in this case that’s over. I think there will be more chapters,” Roberts said. Schuitemaker and his lawyer, George Jonson of Montgomery Rennie & Jonson, were not immediately available for comment.

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