Decision to Litigate

In April 2007, while I was recuperating from my surgery, my brother-in-law approached me to help him sort of out his father’s estate. Back in 2002, their pharmaceutical business had gone into administration (UK version of Chapter 11 in the US) due to cash flow problems exacerbated by an ambitious foray into the Chinese market. The administrator, recognising that the company was asset rich, had managed to stall the liquidation long enough to sell the stable of products to an emerging pharmaceutical company at an excellent price, which meant the shareholders would receive the surplus. One fly in the ointment was that the Chinese distributor had put in three fraudulent claims, which if accepted, would mean the shareholders would receive nothing.

Reluctantly I agreed to fund the litigation in return for a significant percentage and I thought at the time that this would be completed within 12 months. The first battle did not take place for three full years – until May 2010 – which we won, when we proved that our adversary had forged documents, which we were able to prove by showing that the name of the town stated in the document did not exist on the date shown on the invoice.

We had won one significant battle, but I did not know there were more to come in this 12-year litigation. Once a decision is made, all other options dissolve, and you must persist on this road to its natural conclusion. Victory celebrations with our legal team were in order.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you’d like to learn more about my retirement coaching and consultant programs, visit my site at georgejerjian.com or contact me at [email protected].