By: Sue Zeidler
Reuters

A damages expert asserted Trust Company of the West (TCW) is owed $81.7 million in royalties due to trade secret theft as the high-profile civil case pitting the asset mangement firm against its former chief investment officer Jeffrey Gundlach resumed on Tuesday.

Both sides sued each other in one of the most contentious battles to grip the multitrillion bond fund world after Gundlach was fired from TCW in December 2009 and set up a rival firm, DoubleLine Capital.

In September a Los Angeles jury ordered TCW to pay Gundlach $66.7 million in wages, to be divided by Gundlach between himself and his co-defendants. Gundlach and his associates had sought hundreds of millions of dollars.