A commercial bank in Korea invested USD 25 million in CDO sold by the Citi Group in March 2007 and became bankrupt (due to a default) in December of the same year. In August 2008, the bank repaid the debt in full. When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received settlement money equivalent to USD 550 million by filing a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs in 2011, the commercial bank also filed a suit in the U.S. for damages against the Citi Group, which sold financial derivatives in May 2012 before the financial crisis, by judging that there is a chance to win the case. However, the panel of the U.S. Court of the first instance ruled against the commercial bank on the grounds that the statute of limitation has passed according to Korean laws in 2013.

At the appeal, DR & AJU persuaded the panel by effectively presenting the origin and purpose of the legal principles of the statute of limitation under the Korean laws and the latest Supreme Court precedents for the cases where the court of first instance had ruled as above. The New York Court of Appeals explained in its written judgment the precedents presented by DR & AJU in detail and vacated the first trial judgment citing DR & AJU’s legal principles.

DR & AJU played a role in protecting the client’s rights and interests in this case by giving its best efforts through its creative ideas and strong will based on plentiful work experience on major financial incidents, such as a suit relating to Advanced Fund equivalent to USD 40 million between Company D and Company J, claim for return of unfair profits between small and medium enterprises damaged by KIKO and banks, and Bank D’s panic selling at the option expiration date.