On April 16, 2014,  Justice Jeffrey K. Oing of the New York Supreme Court’s Commercial Division granted the motion of RLR client Sary Awad for summary judgment and held that he was owed a fully vested carried interest from his former employer, ZM Private Equity Fund II, GP, LLC.  ZM had argued that Mr. Awad’s claim should be dismissed based on what it argued were the unambiguous provisions of Mr. Awad’s employment agreement. While we agreed that the relevant provision was unambiguous, we argued, and Justice Oing agreed, that the crucial provision required payment in full of Mr. Awad’s claim. Justice Oing entered his decision from the bench after a lengthy oral argument, during which the Court read a portion of our brief into the record as  supporting its conclusion that ZM’s proffered interpretation of the vesting provision made no sense, as it could result in a lower carried interest payment in the case of a successful investment with an early exit, as every private equity fund hopes to obtain.

Randy Sellier handled this matter on behalf of Mr. Awad.