McDonald Hopkins client win featured in Law 360

The legal publication Law 360 recently highlighted a win for a McDonald Hopkins client, represented by attorneys Stephen Rosenfeld, Patrick O'Meara, Jacob Radecki, and Margaret Redshaw.

The article detailed a major ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which reversed a Maryland district court judgment that had ordered our client, World Business Lenders LLC (WBL), to pay more than $704,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. The Fourth Circuit also affirmed, on cross-appeal, WBL’s trial victory on the plaintiff’s other claims, which sought over $1.3 million in compensatory damages. The Fourth Circuit’s decision marks an important appellate victory and provides WBL a total victory on all of the plaintiff’s claims.

The case was brought by a member of the Kuwaiti royal family who was defrauded out of nearly $7.8 million by a Baltimore restaurateur named Jean Agbodjogbe. Agbodjogbe funneled most of that money into entities he controlled, which he used to buy several properties. Agbodjogbe then used certain properties as the security for loans Agbodjogbe’s business obtained from WBL. The plaintiff sued WBL claiming, among other things, that it aided and abetted Agbodjogbe’s fraud and was unjustly enriched by the loans it issued.

The case proceeded to a bench trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on claims for aiding and abetting fraud and for unjust enrichment, focusing primarily on the three loans issued to Agbodjogbe. A McDonald Hopkins team, led by Stephen Rosenfeld, convinced the district court to find in WBL’s favor on all of the unjust enrichment claims and on the aiding and abetting claim for two of the three loans. The court, however, found that WBL had aided and abetted Agbodjogbe on the third loan, awarding plaintiff compensatory damages of $469,900 and punitive damages of $235,000.

McDonald Hopkins represented WBL in its appeal of the district court’s decision on the third loan to the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit agreed that the district court had made substantial errors in finding that WBL had been “willfully blind” to Agbodjogbe’s fraud and reversed the trial court’s decision that WBL aided and abetted the third loan. The Fourth Circuit rejected all of the plaintiff’s arguments on cross-appeal, leading to a victory for WBL on all claims, wiping away the plaintiff’s entire damages award.

To read the full article, click here.