Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani lead partner Mercedes Colwin, senior counsel Ryan Sestack, and associate Brian FitzGerald obtained dismissal of a plaintiff’s complaint, with prejudice, on behalf of their client, an international risk consulting and intelligence firm, in the Southern District of New York.
This case was particularly noteworthy given the high profile parties involved. The client was a firm founded by the former chief of worldwide operations for the Central Intelligence Agency. The plaintiff was the former Chief Executive Officer and Director General of a government agency of Ras Al Khaimah, which is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates. The plaintiff also brought claims against several other defendants, including Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who is the current emir of Ras Al Khaimah.
The plaintiff brought a fraud claim against Gordon & Rees's client regarding the commissioning and preparation of an audit-type report concerning the plaintiff’s leadership and operation of the government agency. Following the release of the report, the plaintiff was terminated from his position. The plaintiff argued that our client’s report caused his termination from his prestigious and lucrative government position. In dismissing the plaintiff’s complaint, the court accepted Gordon & Rees’s argument that the complaint lacked any of the necessary elements for a fraud claim. During the early stages of the case, the plaintiff’s counsel filed a motion to disqualify the judge as well as a petition to the Second Circuit for a writ of mandamus to disqualify the judge, both of which were denied.