Kramer Levin Obtains Dismissal of Claims for The Rashi Foundation in the SDNY

Kramer Levin client The Rashi Foundation, an Israeli charitable foundation dedicated to helping the underprivileged in Israel, won dismissal of a claim brought by Stanley Jonas and his investment advisory firm Dutch Book Partners in the Southern District of New York.Plaintiffs alleged that Gustave Leven, the founder of the Perrier mineral water empire, contracted to invest $500 million in a new Cayman Islands investment portfolio to be managed by plaintiffs, and that the Rashi Foundation was a “hidden principal” and a beneficiary and a part of an effort to defraud plaintiffs. Plaintiffs claimed that the Rashi Foundation and other defendants breached the contract by failing to provide the $500 million. Plaintiffs sought more than $74 million in unpaid fees and lost profits they would have earned on the investment. The Foundation and the other defendants moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.

On July 27, 2015, Justice Sidney H. Stein issued a 29–page decision dismissing plaintiffs’ claims with prejudice. The Court found it “lacks personal jurisdiction over the moving defendants — all foreign nationals or corporations — on the grounds that they had essentially no connection with the state of New York.” Jonas, et ano. v. The Estate of Gustave Leven, et al., 14 Civ. 3369 (SHS) The Rashi Foundation was represented by litigation partner Michael J. Dell and litigation special counsel Karen Steinberg Kennedy.