Jungang PRI USA LLC - Trial Verdict Awards Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to Client

Challenge

Jungang PRI USA LLC, a Korean-owned firm focused on real estate investment opportunities in the United States, had a major problem. The business had lost $1 million in earnest money after those funds were stolen from a real estate firm’s escrow account. Jungang was unable to get its money back because, despite a criminal conviction and restitution order against the individual owner of the real estate firm, nothing had been repaid. The real estate firm itself was defunct. The conventional wisdom said that such losses, whether because of insolvent defendants or bankruptcy or the challenges of establishing liability against related companies, could never be recovered. Arnall Golden Gregory litigators were contacted to help recover the funds.

Approach

Rather than accept the conventional wisdom, AGG’s litigators looked for ways to combine creative and effective advocacy with a practical assessment of the business realities. Their legal theories prevailed and AGG was able to take not only the original real estate firm to trial, but the franchisor and the qualifying broker, on claims for negligence.

Result

Ultimately, where the client had been faced with a situation of having absolutely no chance of recovery, the jury returned a collectible verdict against multiple defendants for hundreds of thousands of dollars each, as well as a substantial award on Jungang’s attorneys’ fees claim.