Plantation A Legal Thriller

by J M S Macfarlane

Chapter 69

  Later that evening at the Riviera Hotel on Mount Street, Mayfair, Ashby met Simon Wells and Ed Meredith in the cafe bar.

  Riviera was a French hotels group. The furnishings were reproduction Second Empire. There was the usual veneer of opulence, as if the hotel was a luxurious Napoleonic palace.

  “At least they do a decent coffee,” said Wells. This was truly a compliment. A good cafe au lait in London at that time was unobtainable.

  While they waited for Waterford, Ashby scanned the rest of the newspaper article he’d seen that afternoon and occasionally cursed under his breath. Then in annoyance, he threw the paper on the table.

  “Tomorrow night, I’ll be in Athens again and I’ll probably be away for more than a week. While I’m gone, can both of you keep an eye on the Victor case which we’ll hear about during dinner. And by the way, I’d like you both to join me on Plantation’s board but we can discuss that when I get back.”

  “Honoured,” said Meredith.

  “Likewise,” said Wells.

  “Riordan and I have done the papers in the Caspian injunction,” said Meredith. “You’ll need to look over some affidavits tomorrow morning before you go. Then we can be in court the day after tomorrow and have Vincent Wheeler on the rack. I must say I’m looking forward to it. Wheeler always tries to be as obnoxious as possible. There are many in the legal profession who are easy to deal with as opponents and then there are types like Wheeler who try to ambush you or twist the rules to their advantage.”

  “What about American lawyers ?” asked Wells as he saw a large man in an olive green suit heading in their direction.

  “Er....can be aggressive when they want to be or charm the birds off the trees,” said Meredith in an undertone.

  Just as he finished speaking, the man in the green suit was towering over them and they all got up together.

  “Mr Ashby ? Hi, Bill Waterford – glad to meet ya.”

  “Call me Robert – and this is Simon Wells, our marine underwriter and Ed Meredith, our solicitor in London.”

  Waterford was in his early forties with hair greying at the temples and a face prematurely aged from the long hours he worked and the frequent travel. He lived in upper New York state but had an apartment within almost walking distance from his office in Pine Street. He only went home on the weekend a few times each year. During the seventies, he’d been married but it had come to an end. Now he was wedded to his job.

  “Great to meet ya, guys. Say, I’m starved – the restaurant in this hotel is s’posed to be one of the best in London.”

  “Let’s hope so,” said Ashby as they wandered into a room decorated in gold-framed mirrors, crystal chandeliers and blood-red carpet. Waiters hurried to and fro and someone handed them a wine list.

  “Let’s conclude the formalities,” said Ashby and they dealt out their business cards as if playing a hand of bridge.

  A bottle of Rhine riesling was ordered, poured out and the glasses filled. Waterford said he would tell them all about the Victor case in New York – but firstly, he wanted to hear about the recent events involving Hellas Global’s judgment and the injunction.

  Ashby pointed to Meredith.

  “Well, there’s not much to tell really. A Greek company successfully sued Plantation after its ship and all its crew and cargo sank in a storm. We say the claim is fraudulent – and in fact, Rob will be going back to Athens tomorrow to get us evidence on that. In the meantime, we’ve already put in an appeal and as soon as we have the proof we need, the judgment will be set aside.”

  “How was the fraud carried out ?” asked Waterford.

  “We’re not entirely certain but it looks like the Captain conspired with the owners to scuttle the ship. Then he and the crew disappeared to make it look like a total loss of everyone on board. There are indications the Captain is alive and well and working somewhere in Greece or the Mediterranean.”

  “That is what I have to find out,” said Ashby.

  “Do you think you’ll get him or has the trail gone cold ?”

  “I met someone a week ago when I was in Athens who looked remarkably like him. I was threatened and told, ‘pay up or else’.”

  “My. Do you have investigators working on it ?”

  “Yes – in a manner of speaking.”

  “And what’s this about an injunction ?”

  Then they got onto the Caspian claim. Meredith described how Wheeler had got his freezing Order. They would be in the High Court again later in the week.

  “Wheeler ? That wouldn’t be Vincent Wheeler, would it ?

  “Marlowe & Co.”

  “That’s the guy.”

  “Do you know him ?” asked Meredith.

  “Yeah, I know him alright – considers himself an expert on US law. Once, I had to set him straight – suffers from delusions of grandeur.”

  “I’m sure the judge on Wednesday will agree with you.”

  “So tell me – what’s all this about liquidation ? Did Plantation’s board really bring in a liquidator ? I hope you don’t mind me asking this but I have to know. Are things that bad ?”

  Ashby said, “It was nothing more than our board of directors getting its wires crossed. We have no intention of shutting down the company. We’re in the business of paying valid claims. But we won’t be set us up as fall guys – by brokers or anyone else. That’s why we want to nail the Victor claim. And we won’t be backing down on that or any other claim where payment is withheld.”

  “That’s great to hear – because we’ve put in an enormous amount of work on it already – and we think we’ve got a pretty good case. But can I ask you.....what exactly is Plantation’s financial position ? I haven’t asked before because I assumed the company was going along fine. I’m asking you now because we’re going to be grilled about it in front of the jury. Victor will try and blow it out of all proportion – and the attorneys representing Welch are no pushover, let me tell ya. They know their stuff.”

  “We have sufficient liquid assets to pay all valid claims including the shipowners’ claim if they’re successful. We will be saying that to a High Court judge this week. There is no question of our ability to pay all valid claims. I’ll say that myself on the witness stand in New York if necessary.”

  “You keep emphasizing valid claims. What happens if you lose the case in New York and you have to pay Victor Oil ?”

  “We’ll appeal it.”

  “And if you lose all the way in the appeals process ?”

  “Then we’re no different from any other reinsurer.”

  “Meaning what ?”

  “That it would take only one major catastrophic loss to finish us off – and we’re certainly not alone there – half the companies in the market are the same. You do know that it isn’t a particularly good time in the UK at the moment. There are millions of people out of work.”

  “Yeah, I know.....what I’m trying to get at is – if you lose the Victor claim, all the way along the line, can you pay it ? If you can’t, Victor and Welch Wenders will say that’s why you’re holding out – because you can’t pay and Plantation would be shut down. So it’s all about the survival of your company, not whether you really were misled by the brokers. They might say you’re using that as an excuse not to pay.”

  “I understand the point you’re making. As I’ve said, we’re not trying to get out of paying. What would we gain by holding out ? If it was a valid claim – and that is what the jury have to decide, then we couldn’t avoid it. We’d have no defence. We’d be stuck. We would either have had to pay up or close the company down. Either way, we couldn’t have got around it, if it had been a valid claim. And Welch have already tried to get off the hook by saying they’re blameless. Judge Steinberg disagreed. If Welch had been right and it was a valid claim, we wouldn’t even be here right now.”

  “Robert, you should have been a lawyer.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment, Bill.”

  “Welch are sa
ying Plantation has got a whole string of huge claims you’re holding out on because you can’t pay them. Is that true ?”

  “You already know about the merger with Stirling – my father would have filled you in on that. Well, we didn’t write those contracts in the first place – Stirling did. We inherited them. It was a merger of both companies which went wrong from the start. All of Stirling’s business was quick-money for high risk which we wouldn’t have gone anywhere near. Caspian Ltd, for example. Do you know of them ?”

  “No, can’t say I do.”

  At that point, a waiter asked if they were ready to order. Waterford looked down the list of entrees and main courses.

  “Sorry, buddy, I can’t read any of this – it's in French.”

  The maitre d’hotel was close by and said in a Gallic accent, “It is nouvelle cuisine, sir. A new style of French cooking. I’m sure you will like it.”

  “What is it ?” asked Waterford.

  “Sir, it is a combination of the most sumptuous flavours and textures to create a unique dining experience.”

  “Unique ? Ok, will we give it a try ?”

  The others agreed and to save time, the maitre d’hotel selected a range of courses and read them out to the waiter who took the order.

  When they were alone again, Waterford said “Where were we ?”

  “Caspian Ltd – if you haven’t heard of them, it’s perhaps not surprising. The Soviet Union doesn’t advertise that it operates an insurer in London, alongside its sister company, Sovyet Export.”

  “‘Soviet’ ? Do you mean – the commies ? Are you telling me that there are communists insuring business in London ?”

  It turned out that Waterford had fought in the Vietnam War and had combated Vietcong insurgents in the jungle. After doing his military service, he’d decided to do a law degree.

  “So Wheeler is representing them. Ha, that figures. And how much is the claim ?”

  “Eighty million pounds.”

  “Wouldn’t that be enough to close the books on Plantation ?”

  “It would.”

  “And the other claims – how much are they worth ?”

  “Altogether, probably around four hundred million pounds.”

  “So, the grand total of all of these claims including the Greeks, Caspian and all the others, is between a quarter and a half a billion....pounds ? At today’s exchange rate, that’s about three quarters of a billion US dollars.....is that right ?”

  “In approximate terms, yes. We do have our own reinsurance in place but it would still be enough to sink us several times over.”

  Hearing this, Waterford took a slurp of wine and a pen from his pocket and began writing on a serviette.

  “I’ll need to find out a lot more about this while I’m here – and I’d better tell ya now – it could change the entire case for us. The lawyers for Victor and Welch will try and make Plantation look like some seedy, fly-by-night outfit which tries to get out of paying claims. And I can say for certain, that if there’s one thing US juries hate more than anything else, it’s an insurer who doesn’t pay. Most jurors have house and car cover and it drives them crazy if an insurer nit-picks about T&Cs – uh, terms and conditions.”

  “Aside from Victor Oil, Hellas Global and Caspian, there are three major claims we’re grappling with,” said Ashby. “One or possibly two of them may be resolved without going to court. The remaining one is being investigated by us at the moment. So it isn’t true that we’re refusing to pay claims. We’re really having to check that each of these claims are genuine and then to go from there. Do you blame us ? The first one we’ve fully checked out has turned out to be fraudulent. In fact, I wouldn’t mind betting that somewhere in the Victor claim, there’s fraud or criminality involved.”

  Suddenly, their first course arrived : each of their plates had three medallions of varying flavours, decorated with small, coloured blobs of sauce. It was worthy of framing.

  Staring at his plate in disbelief, Waterford said, “That would help ‘cause it could be mighty embarrassing for us if the jury got the wrong idea.”