Consultants’ and directors’ liability

• SRP advises an attorney in a highly complex dispute concerning claims arising from his former client representation. The matter involves international corporate structures, the transfer of substantial assets in the context of an inheritance, and cross-border investments with connections to Switzerland and the US Virgin Islands.
• The dispute spans approximately 15 interrelated and mutually dependent court proceedings, including three cases before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH). Key issues include:
  • Defense against enforcement measures using all remedies under the enforcement provisions of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO) as well as material objections in several preliminary injunction proceedings,
  • Assertion of damages claims resulting from criminal complaints based on false allegations and abusive enforcement measures,
  • Defense against extensive damages claims.
• The proceedings raise fundamental corporate and procedural law questions, including:
  • Dissolution of a GmbH & Co. KG upon the death of a partner,
  • Fundamental questions regarding the party and procedural capacity of a company,
  • Validity of disputed shareholder resolutions concerning the exclusion of partners and the appointment and removal of managing directors,
  • Application of the doctrine of defective organs,
  • Immorality of enforcement measures through abusive exploitation of formal legal positions.

Max Reichert was part of a team that represented a corporation in the metal industry in claiming damages from its managing director. The managing director had participated in agreements that breached antitrust law. The team secured the claims against the D&O insurance and negotiated a settlement with the managing director.

Max Reichert was part of a team representing a construction group in claiming damages for the incorrect implementation of a compliance management system from the former management and the D&O insurer.

SRP represents a former managing director in claiming bonus payments against the parent company of the company formerly managed by him and defends him against alleged claims for damages based on alleged competition law violations. In particular:

• Claiming profit participation (including calculation of the enterprise value)
• Defending against claims for damages including links to white-collar crime
• Claiming payment from the D&O insurer

SRP represents a corporation claiming damages from the former managing director for possible negligence in connection with a product liability case.

SRP represented a stock corporation in the construction sector in defending against compensation claims of its former CEO who had been dismissed for breach of trust. The case circled around:

• Valid termination, including the interplay between board position and service agreement
• Evidence in document-only civil proceedings
• Distinction between loans and embezzlement

SRP represents a German law firm in defending claims for damages based in tort brought by an insolvency administrator over the assets of one of the firm’s clients for an alleged involvement in bankruptcy offences.

SRP represents an Indian solar company in claiming damages from a German attorney specialised in arbitration due to errors in advice in a DIS arbitration against a buyer of solar cells for payment of the purchase price after refusal to accept solar cells in breach of contract.

SRP represents a real estate company in the termination of a former manager and in claiming damages for serious breaches of the duty of proper management. Handling the case includes:

• Cooperation with PR consulting