Tuesday, May 10, 2016

TWENTY MILLION DOLLAR LAWSUIT AGAINST FIRM CLIENT SETTLED WITHOUT CONTRIBUTION

It has been said "It's always darkest before the dawn." The first half of that saying I imagine is somewhat how it must have felt when the firm's clients, a real estate management firm, its principal shareholder and its principal shareholder's son were served with a fifty page complaint seeking twenty million dollars in damages. The dawn arrived, however, when after two and a half years of litigation, mutual releases were exchanged between the parties without any cash contribution on the part of the firm's clients.

Each litigation has its own life. The strategies employed of course depend on the facts of the given litigation. In this case, the strategy employed was simple but effective. The first order of business was to protect the individual defendants against a potentially successful judgment. This required a thoughtful analysis taking into account that any potential transfer of assets after the lawsuit had started could be deemed a fraudulent transfer and subsequently voided. We next utilized all of New York State's discovery rules to send a very strong message to the plaintiff that it was not going to be an easy litigation and that even if successful, collection was not guaranteed.

As a result, after two and a half years, the message was heard and the firm had some very happy clients.
For all your legal needs, please keep us in mind.

Sincerely,

Mario Biaggi Jr.