Richard Garriott awarded 28 million against NC Soft

A federal court yesterday came to a ruling that NCsoft had deprived Garriott of profits on his stock options by mis-categorizing his exit. Garriott, whose last project with NCsoft was Tabula Rasa, left the company in November 2008, a month after getting back from his trip to the ISS

In his suit, Garriott laid claim that NCsoft  forced him out and that he had “objected to his dismissal,” a claim which the company denies saying he left voluntarily — the timing of it all meant that Ricahrd had to sell his stock off quickly in a disadvantageous market or lose them altogether, as apposed to being fired he would have had 10 years to divest.
This action from NCSoft cost him millions(47 to be exact) because he was forced to quickly sell his options for more than 400,000 shares of the company’s stock while the stock market in the toilet.

Garriott, whose newest venture is a Facebook gaming start-up called Portalarium, said he was “very pleased with the final award”. South Korea-headquarted NCsoft said via its attorney, however, that it “will be considering all options for next steps in the legal process.”
“I am extremely pleased with the jury’s decision,” Garriott said in a statement. “The facts were clear that my departure from NCsoft was not voluntary. I am very pleased with the final award.”

Laura Merritt, a lawyer representing NCsoft in the case, said the South Korean software company “will be considering all options for next steps in the legal process.”

According to the report, Garriott first heard he would lose his job when he was spending time in quarantine in Russia following his space trip. Just after he returned, NCsoft announced it would soon close Tabula Rasa an MMO launched under Garriott’s stewardship a year prior that became a commercial failure, with only about a year on the market.