exhibit d...2020/03/09  · karl huth • 41 cannon court • huntington, ny 11743 • (212)...

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Exhibit D FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 03/05/2020 01:09 PM INDEX NO. 650535/2020 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 66 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/05/2020

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Page 1: Exhibit D...2020/03/09  · Karl Huth • 41 Cannon Court • Huntington, NY 11743 • (212) 731-9333 • hathshü+hrey nelds.com January 9, 2020 By Email Caroline Antonacci, Esq.,

Exhibit D

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 03/05/2020 01:09 PM INDEX NO. 650535/2020

NYSCEF DOC. NO. 66 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/05/2020

Page 2: Exhibit D...2020/03/09  · Karl Huth • 41 Cannon Court • Huntington, NY 11743 • (212) 731-9333 • hathshü+hrey nelds.com January 9, 2020 By Email Caroline Antonacci, Esq.,

CONFIDENTIALHuth

Reynolds ,

Karl Huth • 41 Cannon Court • Huntington, NY 11743 • (212) 731-9333 • hathshü+hrey nelds.com

January 9, 2020

By Email

Caroline Antonacci, Esq., Arbitrator

c/o Brittany Faulconbridge, Case Manager

JAMS

620 8th Avenue, 34th Floor

New York, NY 10018

[email protected]

Re: Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig, LLP v. Falcone, Philip A., et al., JAMS Ref. No.

1425029377

Dear Arbitrator Antonacci:

Pursuant to Rule 19(i) of JAMS Streamliñcd Rules, Respondents/Countercl-L--ats PhilipA. Falcone ("Falcone") and Harbiñger Capital Partners Offshore Manager, L.L.C.

("Harbinger"

and, collectively with Falcone and Claimant/Counterclaim Respondent Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig

LLP, the "Parties") respectfully request correction of the following "computational,

typographical, or other similar error[s]"1 in the Final Award in this arbitration served on January

2, 2020:

1. Pages 2, 4: Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct the misspellings of

Mr. Falcone's first name, Philip, as"Phillip."

2. Page 4: Respoñdcñts respectfully request that the Tribunal correct the omission of Mr.

Falcone from the list of witnesses whom Chimst called at the hearing. Claimant called

Mr. Falcone as an adverse witness immediately after opening statemcñts, before any of

Claimant's own representatives had testified. See Hr'g Tr. 119:21-120:4.

3. Page 7 of the Final Award states that the SEC "required factual admissions as part of anysetti-ant"

Final Award at 7. The uncontroverted testimony from bothParties' SEC

experts was that the SEC cantimied even in 2013, to settle the vast majority of cases

withest requiriñg admissinna. See Hr'g Tr. 935:4-12 (Ryan), 1030:13-16 (Klein).

Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct this statement to conform to

the undisputed evidence.

I Respondcats disagree with the Final Award in several respects but have limited this letter to the narrow category oferrors subject to correctica under Rule 19(i) that are material to the ad--p -te-4 in the Final Award.Respeñdats reserve all rights, r-mas and ebje-Am en=c-=ing this --'P-deñ and the Final Award, includingany and all sub±.ñtive and procedural objections to the Final Award.

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 03/05/2020 01:09 PM INDEX NO. 650535/2020

NYSCEF DOC. NO. 66 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/05/2020

Page 3: Exhibit D...2020/03/09  · Karl Huth • 41 Cannon Court • Huntington, NY 11743 • (212) 731-9333 • hathshü+hrey nelds.com January 9, 2020 By Email Caroline Antonacci, Esq.,

CONFIDENTIALHuth

Page 2Reynolds ,

January 9, 2020

4. Page 8: Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct"NFL"

to"NHL."

5. Page 10 of the Final Award refers to a "sworn assetstatement"

and characterizes it as

having "noticed a 'legacy payment of approximately $7.5m as aliability.'"

Final Award

at 10 (quoting Hr'g Ex. CX 935, a May 2018 email chain). Page 15 of the Final Award

similarly states that "Mr. Falcone additionally acknowledged his obligation to pay the

two süecess fees in an asset filing with theNYAG."

Final Award at 15. Neither passage,

however, cites the actual asset statement, which was prepared by a third party and

contained no references to any such $7.5m "legacypayment"

or any success fees. See

Hr'g Ex. CX 946 (Statement of Financial Condition as of March 31, 2018 prepared byBerdon LLP). Instead, the asset statement lists $12,228,473 in current liabilities-a

figure extremely close to the total outstañdiñg expenses reflected in Mr. Falcone's March

30, 2018 Cash Needs Weekly Report. See Hr'g Ex. CX 927 (listing $11,937,281.91 in

outstanding expenses, only $517,614.46 of which is listed as due to Claimant).

Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct these passages accordingly.

6. Page 9 of the Final Award states that "Mr. Falcone's agents again submitted this $5

million invoice and the (July) Retainer Agreement to Mr. Falcone's insurance companyas a claim (CX

613)."Final Award at 9 (emphasis added). Page 12 of the Final Award

states, without citation to record evidence or specification as to time, that "Thereafter, the

claim for success fees wasdenied"

and that "[i]t was, [sic] resubmitted many years later

in 2016 and DNF was then asked to provide timerecords."

Final Award at 12 (cmphasis

added). Respondents are unaware of any submission of any invoice or claim for

Claimant's claimed "successfees"

to insurance that was"denied"

prior to theParties'

efforts in late 2015 and 2016 to seek-for the first time, toRespondents' knowledge-

insurance coverage for the claimed success fees. Respondents respectfully request that

the Tribunal identify the omitted evidentiary basis for these passages or correct them

accordingly.

7. Page 12: Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct the misspelling of

Ms. Herbst's last name as"Herbert."

8. Page 13 of the Final Award asserts thatRespondents'

argument about the excessiveness

of Claimant's claimed fees "failed to include the work performed by the lead counsel,Matthew

Dontzin,"and the Final Award finds that "Mr. Dontzin's flat fees and the SEC

Success Fees were reasonable in light of the hours, complexity and risks involved in thework."

Final Award at 13 (emphasis added). Notwithstanding this finding, the Final

Award omits any computation of the"hours"

that the Tribunal concluded Mr. Dontzin, or

the other timekeepers at Clai-nt, actually spent performing legal work for the two

Respondents involved in this arbitration The Final Award further omits any computation

of the rates that the Tribunal concluded were"reasonable"

for Claimant's partners,

counsel, associates, and paralegals. Id. Respondents respectfully request that the

Tribunal correct the omission of these computations underlying its Final Award.

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 03/05/2020 01:09 PM INDEX NO. 650535/2020

NYSCEF DOC. NO. 66 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/05/2020

Page 4: Exhibit D...2020/03/09  · Karl Huth • 41 Cannon Court • Huntington, NY 11743 • (212) 731-9333 • hathshü+hrey nelds.com January 9, 2020 By Email Caroline Antonacci, Esq.,

CONFIDENTIALHuth

Page 3Reynolds ,

January 9, 2020

9. Page 15: Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct the reference to"$250,000"

to"$2,250,000,"

consistent with the language of the exhibit cited. See Hr'gEx. CX 95.

10. Page 15 of the Final Award states that Claimant's "monthly flat fees were billed at the

end of the month for services previously rendered thatmonth,"

citing Claimant's Exhibit

126. This statement inaccurately describes Claimant's Exhibit 126, which is an invoice

for the month of August 2012 that is dated August 13, 2012-the middle of the month

billed. See also Hr'g Ex. CX 104 (invoice for July 2012 dated and given to Mr. Falcone

on July 16, 2012). Respondents respectfully request that the Tribunal correct this passage

accordingly.

11. The Final Award computes prejudgment interest on the doubled $5 millian SEC success

fees "from October 16,2013."

Final Award at 18. The Final Award expressly finds,

however, that "[s]hortly after the Consent wasentered"

in late 2013, Clsi-snt"agreed"

to a request by Mr. Falcone "for additional time to pay the süecessfees"

without

reference to any amount of interest that was to be paid during that "aMitianal time."

Final Award at 7. Consequently, Respondents respectfully request that computation of

prejudgmcñt interest on the $5 millian SEC success fees be corrected to run from the date

on which the Tribunal found Claimant to have first actually invoiced for the claimed SEC

success fees-i.e., on May 6, 2015. See Final Award at 8 (citing Hr'g Ex. CX 521). ByRespondents'

calculations, this would reduce the prejudgment interest due on the $5

million SEC süecess fees from $2,785,068.49 to $2,086,027.40.

Respectfully submitted,

HUTH REYNOLDS LLP

By: Karl C. Huth

Counsel for Respondents/Counterclaimants

Philip A. Falcone and Harbinger Capital

Partners Offshore Manager, L.L.C.

cc: Caroline Antonacci, Esq., Arbitrator (by email to [email protected] and

nycacemel@=sn.com)Matthew S. Dentzin, Esq. (by email to [email protected])Tibor L. Nagy, Esq. (by email to [email protected])David A. Fleissig, Esq. (by email to [email protected])

Tracy O. Appleton, Esq. (by email to [email protected])Daniel Kacinski Esq. (by email to [email protected])Robert J. Bergson, Esq. (by email to [email protected])

FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 03/05/2020 01:09 PM INDEX NO. 650535/2020

NYSCEF DOC. NO. 66 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/05/2020