On appeal.A lawyer for San Vicente San Vicente (sän vēsān`tā), city (1993 pop. 28,529), central El Salvador. Among its industries are textile manufacturing and sugar milling. San Vicente is the commercial center of a region that produces coffee and sugarcane. Group, the bankrupt venture fund whose shareholders ousted management last year, said the company will appeal an L.A. Superior Court judge's decision to pay attorneys' fees for former managers. San Vicente's estimated 100 shareholders alleged that company executives, including co-CEOs Christopher "Kit" Jennings and Jay Matulick, granted themselves "golden parachutes golden parachute, a contract given to top executives of a corporation to provide benefits in case of job loss due to a takeover by another firm or a merger. The unusually generous benefits may include substantial severance pay, a one-time bonus payment when " and breached their fiduciary duty Noun 1. fiduciary duty - the legal duty of a fiduciary to act in the best interests of the beneficiary legal duty - acts which the law requires be done or forborne by enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders. The lawsuit claims board members never paid for $8.2 million of shares that were bought back from two of the venture firm's companies --GlobalNetFinancial.com and New Media Spark, Plc--which had ties to San Vicente's old management team. After a two-month trial in March, an advisory jury suggested that San Vicente Group be awarded $622,000 in damages. But Judge Anthony Mohr of the court's complex litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. department instead ruled in favor of the defendants. No judgment has yet been entered, said Eric Maier, a lawyer for San Vicente Group at Gibson Dunn. When it is, the company will appeal, he said. The current management group, made up of dissident shareholders dissident shareholders Shareholders who oppose a firm's management or management policy. For example, dissident shareholders of Hewlett-Packard opposed that firm's offer to purchase Compaq Computer. , did manage to return $23 million to investors after ousting oust tr.v. oust·ed, oust·ing, ousts 1. To eject from a position or place; force out: "the American Revolution, which ousted the English" Virginia S. Eifert. management last year. But the legal fight has been costly. "By virtue of them spending so much on their legal fees, they've become the firm's largest creditor," said Peter Fuhrman, San Vicente's current chief executive. |
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