Susman Godfrey L.L.P. Client Obtains Total Victory Against Guggenheim Partners Subsidiary

New York, NY — After years of contentious litigation, Justice Jeffrey K. Oing of the New York Supreme Court today awarded judgment to Susman Godfrey’s client Wade Emory Johnson confirming the AAA arbitration award in Mr. Johnson’s favor, giving him 5,000 preferred units and 2,000 common units of ownership of Guggenheim Transparent Value, LLC (“GTV”), a majority-owned, indirect subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, LLC, one of the world’s leading financial services firms. Mr. Johnson is represented by attorneys Jacob Buchdahl, Arun Subramanian, and Rebecca Tinio in Susman Godfrey’s New York office.

The case was initiated after Transparent Value, LLC (“TV”) refused to honor its written promise to pay Mr. Johnson a finder’s fee in connection with TV’s acquisition by GTV. The AAA panel that heard the case ruled entirely in Mr. Johnson’s favor, and that ruling was confirmed today in Justice Oing’s Order and Judgment.

“In this case, a big bank tried to walk all over the little guy — fortunately, in our legal system, every David can take Goliath to court,” Mr. Buchdahl observed, “and even Goliath has to be true to his written word.” In addition to a substantial ownership stake in GTV, the judgment gives Mr. Johnson an immediate cash award as well as additional future damages from TV, which is the parent company of the sub-adviser to the popular Transparent Value Dow Jones RBP (“Required Business Performance”) family of mutual funds. “The ownership units, future damages, and money awarded to our client are worth many millions of dollars,” Mr. Buchdahl added, “which is appropriate compensation for the valuable service our client performed for TV. We are gratified that the Court, like the arbitration panel beforehand, gave our client a total victory.”

Related People