KNOWLEDGE CEO CAN BE IMPUTED TO CORPORATION
Interesting opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Knowledge can be both actual and constructive. The question is under what circumstances actual knowledge, for instance the CEO’s knowledge, can be imputed to the corporation. This question was addressed by the Ninth Circuit in its opinion of 23 October 2015 (securities class action lawsuit against ChinaCast Education Corporation et al).
Summary (prepared by court staff):
Reversing the dismissal of a securities fraud claim, the panel held that a CEO’s fraud could be imputed to his corporate employer, even though his alleged embezzlement and misleading …
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THE DIFFICULTY OF ENFORCING JUDGMENTS
Michael Redman on the challenges of enforcing judgments
Michael Redman of Burford Capital has written an interesting article on the challenges of enforcing judgments, which was published in the October 2015 issue of Litigation Funding (click here).
As far as the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba) is concerned, the enforcement of a judgment rendered by for instance an English court will be subject to the provisions of the Convention between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland regarding Mutual Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in …
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ATTACHMENTS UNDER THE LAWS OF CURACAO (part II)
Defendant has to show that the claim is invalid
Article 705, Paragraph 2 of the Curaçao Code of Civil Procedure states that the lifting of an attachment may be ordered if it appears summarily that the claim is invalid.
According to existing case law of the Dutch Supreme Court (see for instance Supreme Court dd June 14, 1996, NJ (Dutch Law Reports) 1997, 481), this means that the plaintiff (i.e. the party requesting the attachment be lifted in summary proceedings), with due regard for the limitations of summary proceedings, should establish a prima facie case (aannemelijk maken) that the alleged …
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ATTACHMENTS UNDER THE LAWS OF CURACAO (part I)
Freezing assets is rather easy
Under Curaçao law any party with a prima facie claim may file a petition for a court order granting an attachment, which petitions are generally granted, solely based on the allegations in the petition. It is not required, under Curaçao law, that the litigant needs to demonstrate that, in absence of an attachment, there is a risk that the defendant would have insufficient assets to pay a judgment, as a threat of evading a judgment (by moving assets etc.) does exist.
Only with respect to some types of assets, such as registered shares and other …
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RESTRUCTURING, REFINANCING AND CREDITOR PROTECTION
Diligence is required
Especially in these times of global economic and financial turmoil, an international group of companies (or part thereof) might want to consider restructuring and refinancing its operations or may be already in the process of doing so. When considering or carrying out such plans, careful thought must be given to potential (legal) risks involved. For instance, in many jurisdictions specific statutory provisions exist regarding fraudulent preference actions, i.e. actions that prejudice (specific) creditors. Such provisions often also apply in full with respect to (individual companies belonging to) a group of companies, and should not be overlooked in …
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FRAUD (part II)
Legal forms of fraud
The person who forges a diploma, agreement or identity document is guilty of a criminal offence. Although the concept of ‘fraud’ is only mentioned in relation to human trade in the Criminal Code of Curaçao, there are various offences which can have a relationship with fraud in the sense meant herein: forgery, embezzlement, swindle, (fraudulent) bankruptcy and bribery.
In civil-law relationships the doctrines such as breach of contract, wrongful act, misleading advertisement, error and deception come to mind. In addition, there are lots of other Acts with special provisions such as tax law. I will pass …
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FRAUD (part I)
Curaçao
Fraud is an everyday occurrence. It is of all times, and a phenomenon that happens in every country. In discussions about fraud (and corruption) in Curaçao you regularly see that people refer to other countries, in particular to the Netherlands, to downplay this phenomenon here somewhat. The small number of criminal prosecutions and convictions are often mentioned. In this connection it is often said that they are of ‘a political nature’. Sometimes it is even alleged that someone’s integrity can only be discussed when there is a criminal conviction. We can delude ourselves a lot!
In the event of …
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NO DERIVATIVE ACTION IN CURACAO
A claim based on tort is possible though
Curaçao corporate law does not provide for any derivative suit mechanism (and neither do the laws of Aruba, St. Maarten and the BES-islands). This matter was first decided in the cases of Poot v. ABP, Hoge Raad (Dutch Supreme Court) 2 December 1994, NJ 1995, 288, and Constance et al. v. Noro et al., Gemeenschappelijk Hof van Justitie van de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba (Joint Court of Appeal of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba) 13 December 1994, SJD 1994, 498.
However, a shareholder suffering derivative damage may commence proceedings against, for instance, …
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CURACAO NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2015
CNSJ – The marquee musical event of the Caribbean
Excellence, in both law and music,
is the art of playing with the Rules
Let’s crack some ‘nuts’ now!
BZSE Attorneys at Law / Tax Lawyers / Mediation – Dutch Caribbean
(27 August 2015)
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FRAUDNET – THE POWER OF ONE GLOBAL NETWORK
FraudNet in action
According to The Irish Times, lawyer Antenor Pereira Madruga Filho (a member of FraudNet) is hired by the Irish Government to represent it in a high-profile case involving a lawyer who fled Ireland in 2007 with debts of €80m. The lawyer was arrested in Brazil almost two years ago and has been held since in a prison (click here for the newspaper article). FraudNet Members are regularly in the news and you can read about some of them here.
FraudNet is a worldwide network of lawyers specialized in asset tracing and …
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DUTIES OF A MANAGING DIRECTOR OF A DUTCH CARIBBEAN NV OR BV
Acting in the best interests of the company
Although not explicitly provided for in Book 2 of the Civil Codes of Curacao, St. Maarten and the BES-islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) (“CC”), it is considered a general rule of corporate law that the management board (a.k.a. board of directors) must act in the best interests of the company (an NV or BV) in the performance of its duties, even when acting on instructions from others (e.g. shareholders). This includes the interests of the shareholders, the employees and, according to most legal writers, the creditors of the company.
The management …
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THE CONCEPT OF LIABILITY IN THE DUTCH CARIBBEAN
A three-part distinction
With regard to liability a three-part distinction can be made. The first distinction relates to the basis of the liability: liability pursuant to a contractual relationship (the attributable failure in this respect) and liability pursuant to a wrongful act.
Another distinction relates to the personal liability (thus for the party’s own actions or omissions) and vicarious and/or strict liability: liability for or the acts and omissions of others (vicarious liability) or liability for certain things that happen (strict liability).
For example, employers can be held vicariously liable for certain actions of their employees. According to the Civil …
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