A federal court jury has awarded $4...

A federal court jury has awarded $4 million in compensatory damages to Nancy Tash, daughter of the founder of Mail Boxes Etc. USA. The jury declined to award punitive damages.

Tash had alleged that executives at the San Diego-based company fraudulently induced her to sell 500,000 shares in the company at a below-market price in 1983, shortly before the company went public.

In her lawsuit, Tash, the daughter of the late Gerald Aul, alleged that Mail Boxes President and Chief Executive Anthony W. DeSio defrauded her when he convinced her to sell a 23% stake in the company for $50,000 and a $300,000 note.

According to court papers, DeSio schemed to defraud Tash, a St. Louis resident, by telling her that Mail Boxes was not performing well. At the time, according to court filings by Tash, “Mail Boxes Etc. USA was achieving a high rate of growth, sales were up, its financial condition was improving and the prospects for higher near- and long-term profits had never been as certain.”

Tash alleged that DeSio told her the business “was not succeeding, and that it was in jeopardy,” according to the documents.

Tash’s suit also alleged that she sold her shares only after DeSio promised her that all “selling shareholders would be treated exactly alike.” Tash’s attorney maintained in court that DeSio gave “special benefits” to Herbert Goffstein, a shareholder who later founded a separate company called Mail Boxes Coast to Coast.

Mail Boxes Etc. USA franchises postal and communications service centers. It now has operations in most of the United States, along with Puerto Rico and Canada. The company will open its 1,000th location Sept. 25. It recently entered the Japanese market.

The company intends to appeal the U. S. District Court verdict, which was reached Friday, Mail Boxes spokeswoman Sandra Greenberg said Monday.