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In just over a year, a contract that promised to launch Jabil Circuit Inc. into big-time computer manufacturing has dissolved into a court dispute that leaves Epson America Inc. wanting out of the deal and Jabil seeking damages.
Friday, St. Petersburg-based Jabil sued computermaker Epson for at least $6.5-million, saying it was never paid for a shipment of state-of-the-art notebook computers it had assembled. But documents filed in Pinellas Circuit Court show that Epson has accused Jabil of quality problems that cost the computer giant even more. Epson canceled the contract last month, the documents say.
The news helped send Jabil's stock down 37 1/2 cents a share to an all-time low of $3.87 1/2 Wednesday. The stock's slide, which began last spring,...