Lawsuit Against Principality of Monaco Fails to Proceed

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Stanley S. Arkin:

Contrary to an article published on February 2, 2010, by the French magazine Point de Vue, no default judgment has been entered in the lawsuit filed by Robert Eringer against the Principality.  In fact, on January 27, 2010, the Court vacated a default entry that had been requested by Mr. Eringer and his attorney, Brigham Ricks, on the previous day, having determined that there was no basis for any such default entry or judgment.  Mr. Eringer's lawsuit against the Principality of Monaco will therefore not move forward as a result of Mr. Eringer's failure to comply with elementary legal requirements regarding due process.    

On January 26, 2010, Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks attempted to obtain a default judgment against the Principality in California State Court.  Because the Principality has never been served with a copy of the complaint, a request for a default judgment was entirely inappropriate.  Indeed, the moment we uncovered Mr. Eringer's machinations, we contacted the clerk of the court and notified that office that Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks had failed to comply with basic and well-known legal requirements for service of legal process.  Upon review, the clerk of the court discovered that Mr. Ricks – despite affirming that he had complied with certain service requirements – had failed to do so.  The very next day, the Court voided and vacated the default entry that had been requested by Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks.  Moreover, both Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks knew that these state service requirements were wholly insufficient for service on the Principality and that they were required to proceed through the Hague Convention.  They nonetheless proceeded to ignore these requirements.  

Notwithstanding their knowledge of these facts, Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks provided Point de Vue with inaccuracies and untruths about this lawsuit.  For example, despite their assertions to the contrary, there have been no hearings, trials or appearances in this case, and thus nothing at which the Principality "failed to appear."  Moreover, the Principality has made no admissions regarding any allegations.  Mr. Eringer's and Mr. Ricks's statements to the contrary are false.  

It is stunning that Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks provided this information to Point de Vue for a February 2, 2010 article when both of them knew at least five days earlier that the Court had vacated the default entry based on their intentional misrepresentations.  Mr. Eringer and Mr. Ricks have resorted to coercive tactics and outright misrepresentations in order to rob the Principality of its due process rights, to further Mr. Eringer's malignant scheme, and to avoid their obligations to comply with U.S. legal requirements for service of process.    

For more information, please contact Stanley S. Arkin at 212.333.0208 or [email protected].

SOURCE Stanley S. Arkin