Kramer Levin Secures Dismissal of Claims Against Deloitte Italy

On Feb. 24, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted the motion of our client, Deloitte & Touche S.p.A. (Deloitte Italy), to dismiss RICO, fraud and other Pennsylvania common law claims, in LCV Capital Management LLC v. Nuova Argo Finanziaria, et al., for lack of personal jurisdiction and denied plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. The lawsuit arose from a transaction in Italy in which an affiliate of the plaintiff (LCV), a Pennsylvania entity, acquired three Italian utility companies from the co-defendants of Deloitte Italy, which are also Italian companies. Deloitte Italy performed a limited review of the utility companies’ interim financial statement, which was provided to LCV during the due diligence period for the transaction. LCV claimed it discovered after the transaction closed that the statement contained falsified financial information. LCV alleged the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to induce LCV to invest millions of dollars in companies that were effectively insolvent. Deloitte Italy moved to dismiss on several grounds, including for lack of personal jurisdiction, on the ground of forum non conveniens, and for failure to state a claim. After several rounds of briefing, including in connection with LCV’s motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, the court issued its decision dismissing the action against Deloitte Italy and its co-defendants. The court explained that Deloitte Italy is an Italian company with no presence in Pennsylvania, virtually all of the events at issue took place in Italy, and Deloitte Italy’s handful of communications with LCV in Pennsylvania did not establish minimum contacts sufficient for the court to exercise specific personal jurisdiction.