Glory Wealth

Issue:

Glory Wealth was one of two plaintiffs seeking to recover damages from the defendants, a group of shipping entities that the plaintiffs believed were alter egos and fraudulent transfer recipients of a defunct Ukrainian shipping company, called Industrial Carriers, against whom the plaintiffs had obtained judgments.

Corporate law, governance and standards were important issues in the case, particularly around shareholders’ control and access to documentation, transparency of record keeping, fiduciary duties to creditors, and other zone of insolvency issues. The defendants had argued that certain Ukrainian practices, which might seem improper in the United States, were common practice in the Ukraine.

Resolution:

After months of pre-trial discovery and negotiations, the litigation went to trial in August of 2014. The trial lasted for approximately two weeks.

The court had ordered that, as Industrial Carriers was a Marshall Islands company, the corporate law of that jurisdiction should apply. As Marshall Islands corporate law is based on Delaware corporate law, KRyS Global was instructed to provide expert testimony in relation to the applicable standards and on various topics, including corporate governance, solvency, avoidance actions, and fiduciary duties.

Following trial, the case was decided in favor of the plaintiffs on all counts, and the ship was sold for the benefit of the plaintiffs. An appeal is currently pending.

Value Added:

KRyS Global added significant weight to the plaintiffs’ expert evidence, vis à vis the other experts in the case, due to KRY’s Global’s significant experience serving as a board member in numerous companies, especially companies facing zone of insolvency and avoidance action issues.

KRyS Global’s expert testimony regarding corporate governance and board decisions was relied on by the court in making its final decision in favour of the plaintiffs.