By Katherine Yung / The Dallas Morning News May 19, 2006

Jean-Raymond Boulle, an international businessman and former Dallas resident, prevailed Thursday over one of his brothers in a long-running lawsuit that had sought $200 million in damages.

It took a Dallas jury less than two hours to decide that Jean Boulle did not breach an agreement with Marie Joseph Franco Boulle, known as Franco, and Franco Boulle's companion, Lesa Schmidt, nor did he commit fraud.

The one-time business partners in the mining and minerals industry had parted ways in 1992, with Franco Boulle agreeing to transfer his share of assets owned by their partnership to Jean Boulle. In exchange, Franco was to receive a 5 percent interest in the net revenue generated by any of the projects he had transferred to his brother.

Jean Boulle went on to form a company, Diamond Fields Resources Inc., that discovered one of the world's largest nickel deposits, in northeastern Canada. He then made a fortune from selling the company to Inco Ltd., a giant Canadian mining company.

But Franco Boulle, a citizen of the United Kingdom who now lives in Ensenada, Mexico, alleged that Jean Boulle did not honor the terms of their agreement and filed the lawsuit in 1998. The suit alleged that Jean Boulle used some of the projects from their former partnership to form Diamond Fields. It also described several projects from their former partnership that Franco Boulle alleged he should have received money from.

Jean Boulle, who now lives in Monaco, denied the allegations, saying that none of the projects Franco Boulle previously had an interest in ever generated any revenue. He told the jury that he performed his obligations under the agreement by paying Franco Boulle $45,000, defending lawsuits against their former partnership and paying more than $750,000 to settle their former debts.

"I am very happy that the jury found that I fully complied with the 1992 agreement I made with my brother, Franco, and completely rejected the accusations that he had made in the lawsuit," Jean Boulle said in a statement. "I am delighted to have this personal family dispute resolved after all of these years."

Jean Boulle made news in 2002 when his 43,000-square-foot mansion on Strait Lane in Dallas was burned to the ground in a construction accident.

Dallas jeweler Denis Boulle, another brother, was on the witness list but was not called. "I remain close to my family, but I was not a participant in this lawsuit," he said.

Franco Boulle's attorney, Larry Veselka, said his client was glad to get his day in court after so long. No decision has been made on whether to appeal.

Staff writer Cheryl Hall contributed to this report.
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