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On 18 November I shared the statement that mentioned that the company is "addressing remaining legal actions".
They have now confirmed that the 18/11 statement does indeed include the recent moves by Mourant. They are actively engaging with Mourant and expect to "extinguish" (their word) this action soon.
How many cases remain unresolved?
Unresolved cases -
FIC v SN – joint motion to continue to October 2024 (a Hope related case).
FRCC bankruptcy hearing in NYC. This progress of this case will likely be determined by the outcome of FIC v SN. No schedule for this case and no action since early 2022.
In both of the above, it would appear FRUS is protected, probably more so now the GOGC have ratified the assignment and assuming FRC meets its obligations under the MoU.
YA II v FRC – Summary Judgement in favor of YA. FRC have motioned for a new trial which appears to allow for time to mount an appeal. No further action to date.
FRC v YA II – No action since the Original Petition by FRC and the General Denial by YA.
Mourant v FRC Winding Up Petition – To be “extinguished” though I am not sure if we will get to see how. There might just be a joint motion to dismiss if they finally reach another settlement before the docket date.
Thank you for taking time to reply @Looed. Down to 5 cases then, 1 of which will be “extinguished”, so really only 4 to worry about.
Worrying that FIC v SN AND FRCC bankruptcy are not scheduled for almost a year, but given the GOGC involvement maybe we can hope of an early settlement, 9 months to go there though.
YA II v FRC – no end date
FRC v YA II – No action since the Original Petition; again open ended and no end date in sight.
Hopefully FRR's plan to draw everything to a close is genuine, they have 9 months it seems. Lets see how genuine they are.
Good morning Looed
Many thanks for obtaining, and sharing, the Company statement. Good to have that reassurance.
Re your list of unresolved cases, isn't there a Yellow Jersey (or whatever they're called!) one too?
Avi8r - The date for FIC v SN is the result of a joint motion for continuance. All such company related cases in which parties have filed similar joint motions have settled. This is a Hope related case (via the liquidators) and we know the other Hope cases have settled.
Just an observation but the liquidators will only continue if they have a chance of recouping something tangible. If the asset of the company is indeed safely parked beyond their reach they might need to reassess their course of action. Thats just a theory so we need to see how that plays out.
YA II v FRC will have a docket schedule once the company appeals, should they chose to do so.
I am sure it's pure coincidence, but FRC v YA has a bit of a whiff of FRC v Mourant about it which quite quickly brought those parties to the settlement table.
ODR1 - You are welcome. Yes there is JY v FRC docketed for May 2024. It's already been revised down by YJ from $50K to $30K and I don't see it as a significant case relative to the others, though of course the sum might be significant to YJ. Nothing has happened in that case since June.
Thank you Looed - as always succinct and well explained.
Very many thanks to you.
Doesn't make any sense that these liquidator cases haven't been dropped. The creditors put these companies in liquidation. Who were the creditors? Hope, via the loan notes. If there's a comprehensive deal with Hope, why wouldn't he say to FIC, sorry my bad, never mind the liquidation? Maybe to keep a threat against the company pending payment of some obligations since the company is notorious for not honoring payment obligations? But if the license/PSC has truly been transferred to FRUS, it's beyond the reach of the liquidators anyway since they are liquidating only a couple of the other subsidiaries--FRCC AND FRIC. Looed any thoughts?
Njames - Hope is the major, but not the only creditor and the liquidators must follow due process until they are 100% clear that they have exhausted all avenues and can do no more. We are not at that point. There is no deal, at least publicly, that unquestionably puts FRUS / the asset out of harms way. It is just an MoU and we don’t know if its terms have been met in full by the company.
With regard to the MoU, we know FRC missed the original payment date with the GOGC, so I expect this joint motion to kick this case into the long grass was in large part to allow FRC to either meet the second delayed payment date proposed by the GOGC or fail and therefore continue to keep the company and the asset potentially exposed. Also, to deal with the other litigation.
It would be prudent for Hope to postpone the termination of this case until it is known a deal has been properly finalized meaning and all the other threats to the company – and any deal involving him - have been extinguished. Again, another reason this case has been kicked down the road.
Also, info takes time to trickle down to these types of cases and with the court date so far out, I expect the parties are focused on more pressing needs. I expect we will see decisions in the other cases before this one.
Looed - do you have a theory as to what is actually going on here ? I’m at a loss !
We are told the company is working hard to address all these legal issues and get back to “business”. However it doesn’t feel like progress is being made imho ? Failure to comply with deadlines and MOUs does not inspire confidence - with anyone! Why do they continue to fail on their commitments ?
What’s your gut feeling on this never ending saga ?
We're all at a loss because they won't tell us anything but they arent going through all this pain and significant cost just to turn the taps back on. Has to be a deal of some sort
They are stalling for time to finalise a deal 🍻