Hanwha Korea Loses Battle in New York Court over Forum Non Conveniens Issue

Hanwha Life Insurance, a Korean Insurance company, case against UBS AG was dismissed by a New York court.  We are, likely, to see the case filed in Korea or Hong Kong in the near future.  This, holding, if appealed, will, likely, be upheld. 

The lawsuit stems from Hanwha loss of US$ 30million in a complicated financial product.  The case is, also, weak on the merits, since, intern alia, Hanwha is a sophisticated investor or, at least, should be one.

The Manhattan Supreme Court (NY trial court) noted that:

“While this court is capable of applying Korean law, a Korean court is more familiar with such law and better suited to resolve the parties’ disputes . . . (claims) arose almost entirely from events and transactions that took place outside of New York and mainly in Korea and Hong Kong.”

Let’s see if the case goes any farther in Hong Kong or Korea. 

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Sean Hayes may be contacted at: [email protected]

Sean Hayes is co-chair of the Korea Practice Team at IPG Legal. He is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw.

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