Kasowitz Defeats Another Motion to Dismiss in Suit against Former Officers and Governors of Essar Steel Minnesota

Kasowitz Benson Torres, on behalf of the Litigation Trustee for the UC Litigation Trust of Essar Steel Minnesota, defeated the motion to dismiss its lawsuit against Prashant Ruia, a former governor of Essar Steel Minnesota and the son of the co-founder of Essar Global Fund Limited, the parent company of Essar Steel Minnesota and a multinational conglomerate and construction company based in India.  

On September 27, 2021, Judge Craig T. Goldblatt, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, found that the complaint adequately alleged that Prashant Ruia aided and abetted the improper transfer of tens of millions of dollars of assets from Essar Steel Minnesota to Essar Global and its affiliates. 

Earlier this year, on May 5, 2021, Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, denied the motions to dismiss filed by defendants Madhu Vuppuluri and Sanjay Bhartia, the former CEO and CFO of Essar Steel Minnesota, respectively.  

Essar Steel Minnesota had planned to build a large-capacity state-of-the-art iron ore mine and pellet plant in Minnesota, financed in part through a substantial equity infusion from Essar Global.  In its complaint, the UC Litigation Trustee alleges that Essar Steel Minnesota, after eight years of construction, was left with a half-completed iron ore pellet plant that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars more to complete, with no additional equity to be provided by Essar Global. 

The Kasowitz team representing the Litigation Trustee for the UC Litigation Trust of Essar Steel Minnesota is led by securities and complex litigation partner Stephen W. Tountas and includes bankruptcy and restructuring partner Robert M. Novick and associate Melissa A. Barahona.