WASHINGTON-Qualcomm Inc. and Richard Bliss, a former employee temporarily imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges in 1997, have reached an out-of-court settlement to end a lawsuit that accused the San Diego firm of negligence by failing to supply Bliss with proper permits to build a wireless local loop system in Rostov.
“The case has been resolved,” said Kim Roberts, a lawyer for the former Qualcomm field technician. Roberts said a deal was struck with Qualcomm several weeks ago and the parties expect to file to dismiss the case shortly.
“The resolution of the matter is imminent,” said Christine Trimble, a Qualcomm spokeswoman.
Neither Roberts nor Trimble would disclose terms of what they described as a confidential agreement.
After Bliss filed the lawsuit on Nov. 17, 1998, in San Diego Superior Court, Qualcomm released a statement saying it rejected a demand from Bliss’ attorneys for nearly $1 million.
“The company believes that his claims are without merit and is confident that once the facts are known, this lawsuit will be dismissed,” Qualcomm said in a Nov. 18, 1998, press statement.
In that statement, Qualcomm, which helped secure Bliss’ release from Russia, said it supported him afterward with counseling, time off, career planning services and fully paid college tuition.
But Bliss’ attorneys argued Qualcomm caused the ordeal-which became an international story and brought to light dangers faced by U.S. wireless workers overseas-and said the company “acted with oppression, fraud and malice.”
The lawsuit said Bliss “suffered and continues to suffer damages of emotional stress, loss of his employment income and benefits, loss of his career and loss of his reputation.”
In particular, the lawsuit alleged Qualcomm did not secure authorizations for global positioning system equipment Bliss was told to put into his suitcase and take on the plane into Russia.
Qualcomm, according to the complaint, did not tell Bliss the GPS equipment was not included on a commercial invoice prepared for him by the San Diego wireless firm and that GPS devices were illegal in Russia.
The lawsuit said Bliss was instructed not to say anything and to produce the commercial invoice only if it was requested.
The GPS gear was needed to install a $5.8 million wireless system for Electrosviaz in Rostov, a city 600 miles south of Moscow.
Bliss, contacted at his Olympia, Wash., home, declined to comment on the settlement. Bliss, Qualcomm and the Clinton administration previously insisted the spy charges were unfounded, and Russia never produced any evidence to back up its allegations.
Qualcomm still denies any wrongdoing.
“As far as we know, everything was done according to law,” said Trimble.
In November 1997, Russia’s Federal Security Service-a successor to the KGB-confiscated Bliss’ GPS equipment, and he became the target of a probe. He subsequently was arrested Nov. 27, 1997, and put in a Russian prison.
According to the lawsuit, Bliss was held in a filthy jail with no toilet and fed only broth, oatmeal and bread. In addition, the complaint said Bliss was interrogated on repeated occasions for eight hours at a stretch and was told espionage charges against him carried a 20-year jail term, and possibly the death penalty.
Bliss’ attorneys said Bliss, 29 at the time, contemplated suicide as a result of his treatment.
In the end, Bliss was not forced to return to Russia for a trial and won’t have to as long as he does not enter the country again.
