Soros, India's Chatterjee win dismissal of TradeWinds lawsuit

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros and Indian entrepreneur Purnendu Chatterjee on Tuesday won the dismissal of a U.S. lawsuit in which cargo carrier TradeWinds Airlines Inc sought to have them pay a $54.9 million judgement it could not collect.

U.S. District Judge John Keenan in Manhattan said TradeWinds and its former parent Coreolis Holdings Inc did not show that Soros and Chatterjee were the "alter ego" of C-S Aviation Services Inc and should be personally liable for the judgement.

TradeWinds, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, had won the judgement against C-S Aviation in June 2008 from a North Carolina state court.

It claimed it should be able to "pierce the corporate veil" of C-S Aviation and collect from Soros and Chatterjee, because they had through their operation of that company left it undercapitalised, commingled its assets and siphoned its money.

But Keenan said the plaintiffs did not show, as required under Delaware law, that C-S Aviation, Soros or Chatterjee operated as a "single economic entity," and that there was an "overall element of injustice or unfairness" present.

"Considering all the evidence presented by plaintiffs as to the 'single economic entity' prong of the veil-piercing analysis, the court concludes that a rational trier of fact could not return a verdict in plaintiffs' favour because they have failed to show that Soros and Chatterjee personally dominated C-S Aviation," Keenan wrote in a 32-page decision.

Lawyers for TradeWinds and Coreolis were not immediately available for comment.

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for George Soros and Soros Fund Management, declined to comment. A lawyer for Chatterjee declined to comment.

The cases are TradeWinds Airlines Inc v. Soros et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-05901; and Coreolis Holdings Inc et al v. Soros et al in the same court, No. 10-08175.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)