[Breaking] Rajiv Luthra to pay Mohit Saraf Rs 52 crore and bank guarantee of Rs 25 crore as interim settlement: Delhi High Court

The legal battle between L&L Founding Partner Rajiv Luthra and Senior Partner Mohit Saraf appears to be drawing to a close, after both parties arrived at a consensus regarding the latter's exit from the firm.

. In a draft order passed today by Justices RS Endlaw and Sanjeev Narula, the following terms have been set for Mohit Saraf's departure from L&L Partners:

. Rajiv Luthra shall, before Saturday, pay to Mohit Saraf a sum of Rs 52 crore and furnish an irrevocable bank guarantee of a sum of Rs 25 crore, encashable in terms of the award of the arbitral tribunal adjudicating disputes between the parties;

Mohit Saraf shall cede any right of reinstatement to L&L firms;

Payments in terms of profits of firm etc. due to Saraf to be subject to the outcome of arbitral proceedings;

Saraf shall be entitled to set up his own independent legal practice either alone or in partnership with anyone else. He shall be entitled to describe himself as a former Partner of L&L, but the name of the new practice shall not have Luthra or L&L as part thereof;

Luthra and Saraf will be allowed to compete for clients, advocates and staff of L&L Mumbai and Delhi;

Whichsoever clients of L&L Mumbai and Delhi decide to move to the legal practice of Saraf, shall be entitled to do so. L&L shall shift the data related to those clients to the new firm and will not retain any of this data.

New emails IDs to be given for those who join Saraf. Clients will be informed of these email ids. The electronic identity of Saraf as L&L Partner shall be blocked on receipt of payment.

. Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sidharth Luthra along with Advocate Haripriya Padmanabhan appeared for Rajiv Luthra, whereas Advocate Raghvendra Singh appeared for Saraf.

. In the course of the hearing, Rajiv Luthra informed the Court through Padmanabhan that the payment to Saraf will be made within 24 hours.

. The data of clients going to Saraf would be shared, he added. Further, he submitted that while Saraf can take credit for the work he has done, he cannot take credit for what the firm has done.

. However, the Court responded,

" It is difficult to draw lines like that. When you are Partners, everything you do is attributable to the firm."

. Saraf had moved the High Court in October last year after he was removed from the L&L partnership by Luthra.

. Following a suggestion made by the Court, Senior Advocate Harish Salve had agreed to mediate between Luthra and Saraf. The same, however, failed to bear fruit . An earlier attempt to settle the matter through mediation had also failed .

. After the matter returned to the High Court, a Single Judg e stayed the termination of Saraf from the L&L partnership.

. Luthra then appealed against this verdict , arguing that the Single Judge's order was riddled with inconsistencies.

Proceedings regarding the dispute between Luthra and Saraf are pending before an arbitral tribunal.

. [Read an account of today's hearing]

[Breaking] Rajiv Luthra to pay Mohit Saraf Rs 52 crore and bank guarantee of Rs 25 crore as interim settlement: Delhi High Court

Bar & Bench

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