Opinion ID: 487723
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Undisputed Evidence of Truth

Text: 75 The undisputed evidence at trial, including plaintiff's own testimony, precludes any reasonable inference that the central allegation of the challenged article--that Tavoulareas set up Peter in Atlas--was false. Tavoulareas repeatedly testified at trial that by December 1973 he knew that Peter's supervisor at Lemos, Comnas, was planning to leave Lemos and form a joint venture company. Tr. at 1275-76, 1293, 1433, 1635, 1647. According to his own testimony, Tavoulareas also knew by late 1973 that Comnas had offered Peter a partnership position in that venture. Tr. at 1293; see also Tr. at 1278, 1455. 28 What is more, Tavoulareas testified that he thought it likely that Comnas made the offer to Peter not because of Peter's modest qualifications as a young and inexperienced junior executive but in order to make sure he got business from Mobil. Tr. at 1648; see also Tr. at 1295-96, 1455, 1516; cf. Tr. at 1656 (testimony of Tavoulareas that as of 1974 Peter was young and needed more training in shipping business); Tr. at 3080 (uncontradicted testimony of Kousi, a Samarco director, to same effect). 76 In the spring of 1974, with Tavoulareas fully aware that Comnas was trying to curry favor with him by offering Peter a share of Comnas' venture, Tr. at 1516, Tavoulareas flew to London to ask Comnas if [Comnas] was interested in taking over the management of Samarco's ships. RE at 2443-46; see also RE at 2344-45, Tr. at 1534 (I [Tavoulareas] more than anybody else was responsible for bringing [Comnas] into [the management of Samarco's ships] ...); Tr. at 1289-91, 3423, 3349. But cf. Dissent at 826-27 (recounting evidence that Comnas was recruited by Mobil as a corporate entity, including actions of its chairman, Rawleigh Warner, rather than by Tavoulareas, notwithstanding Tavoulareas' own uncontradicted testimony). 29 Thereupon, Comnas created Atlas to manage Samarco's ships, and Peter--until then an assistant at Lemos--joined Atlas as a part owner. RE at 2421-22, 2426-28; 3141. By itself, the undisputed fact that Tavoulareas personally recruited Comnas to manage Samarco's ships (ultimately through the vehicle of Atlas Maritime) shortly after learning that Peter had an outstanding offer from Comnas goes far toward justifying the charge that Tavoulareas set up his son in Atlas. See 567 F.Supp. at 659 (finding that Tavoulareas' 1977 SEC testimony, describing this sequence of events, provided Tyler with a sufficient basis for [his set up] allegation). 77 But that is not all. The record abounds with uncontradicted evidence of nepotism in favor of Peter. The record unmistakably reveals that Tavoulareas remained personally involved in the Samarco-Atlas arrangement after Peter left Lemos and took on his partnership position at Atlas. In August 1974, only days after Peter joined Atlas as a partner, Tavoulareas took Peter--without Comnas--to Geneva to meet the Alirezas. Tr. at 1305-06. This father-and-son trip to Geneva commenced after Tavoulareas sent a memorandum to Paul Wolf[e] to tell him [Tavoulareas] would no longer be involved with anything as to Atlas and Samarco and thus to bypass him on all Atlas matters beyond Wolfe's authority in favor of Rawleigh Warner, Mobil's chairman. RE at 2440; see RE at 2339; see also Tr. at 1332-33, 1464-65; cf. RE at 2344 (Mobil's pre-publication letter sent to Tyler claiming that [f]rom the date Peter Tavoulareas joined Atlas, Mr. Tavoulareas divorced himself from involvement in matters involving business transactions between Mobil and/or SAMARCO with Atlas.) At a luncheon gathering in Geneva, Tavoulareas and a Mobil subordinate engaged in substantive discussions with the Alirezas regarding the tentative Samarco-Atlas contract. During that conversation, Tavoulareas and his Mobil colleague argued in favor of Atlas' position that Atlas should be independent of Samarco and that its compensation should include both a minimum fee and an equity interest in the ships it managed. Tr. at 1712. See generally RE at 2587-2590 (Peter's written summary of the meeting). Although the Alirezas were of the view that Samarco should have clean cut control of the management group[,] ... [t]his course of action was opposed by ... Mobil and Mobil's pro-Atlas position on this fundamental issue prevailed. RE at 2587. 78 Thereafter, Tavoulareas' personal involvement in building up Atlas, with Peter then an equity partner in the firm, continued unabated. In November 1974, at a social gathering in Saudi Arabia, Tavoulareas attempted to convince Ahmed Alireza to accept Atlas' position on the final sticking point between Samarco and Atlas over the terms of the latter's compensation. Tr. at 1312-13, 1725-27. Based on his conversation with Alireza, Tavoulareas recommended to Comnas and Peter that they accept Alireza's counter-offer. Tr. at 1312-13, 1725-27. Atlas accepted Tavoulareas' advice, and the Samarco-Atlas deal was subsequently consummated. 79 Having helped Atlas secure its management agreement with Samarco, Tavoulareas then--by his own testimony--personally participated in the series of events whereby Comnas in short order resigned from Atlas, with Peter becoming its 75 percent owner. According to uncontradicted testimony, the decision to discharge Comnas was made in April 1975 30 at a meeting of high-level Mobil officials in Tavoulareas' own office at Mobil headquarters. Not only was Tavoulareas present for this meeting, but he participated fully in the discussion leading directly to Comnas' removal. Indeed, the meeting commenced with Tavoulareas as the highest ranking Mobil officer present, without Mobil's chairman, Mr. Warner, who only later joined the ongoing conclave. Tr. at 1185-87, 1331-33, 1534. 31 Far from divorcing himself from this matter, Tavoulareas, according to Mr. Warner's uncontradicted testimony, stated in that critical meeting: 80 I more than anybody else was responsible for bringing [Comnas] into this and I think that I should be involved in helping to handle the situation. 81 Tr. at 1534. 82 A few days later, Tavoulareas flew to London from New York with two Mobil subordinates to explain to Comnas that we weren't satisfied with [his] services. Tr. at 1333. After one of Tavoulareas' subordinates met with Comnas to find out what terms he would agree to for leaving, Tr. at 1195, Comnas asked to meet with Tavoulareas. Tr. at 1336-37; see also Tr. at 3349. Tavoulareas reviewed a draft agreement of terms for Comnas' departure and then met with Comnas. Tr. at 1336-37. At Mobil's unilateral insistence, made without even notifying or consulting its other partners in Samarco, Comnas left Atlas immediately thereafter. Tr. at 1190. 83 In addition to the trial testimony of Tavoulareas and his witnesses, Mobil's own answers to Tyler's written questions prior to the article's publication expressly conceded that Tavoulareas personally participated in the arrangements made when G. Comnas departed from Atlas ... to the extent of assuring a settlement that was fair and equitable. RE at 2345. It is also beyond dispute that as part of the settlement resulting in Comnas' resignation Mobil agreed to put Comnas on its payroll as a consultant. 32 84 Tavoulareas also played a pivotal role in helping Atlas not only to survive but to prosper after Comnas left, when Atlas thereby became the firm of Peter and his youthful colleague from Lemos, Ares Emmanuel. Tr. at 1835; see also RE at 2053, 2435. Tavoulareas personally participated in Mobil's internal deliberations that resulted in the decision to make Harmon Hoffmann, a senior and highly respected Mobil executive, available to Atlas as an interim manager. See Tr. at 1193, 2848-49; cf. RE at 2345. Furthermore, Tavoulareas was personally and directly involved in persuading the Alirezas to retain Atlas as Samarco's independent management firm upon Comnas' departure. Tavoulareas flew to Saudi Arabia and personally informed the Alirezas of Mobil's discharge of Comnas, Tr. at 3286-88. Subsequently, the Alirezas took the position that the Samarco-Atlas contract was terminated by virtue of Comnas' departure, Tr. at 3292, and that to continue collaboration, Atlas would have to assign partial control of its stock and management to Samarco. Tr. at 3292-93; see also Tr. at 1867, 2602, 3441. The Alirezas later withdrew these demands antithetical to Atlas (and Peter) only after Tavoulareas and one of his subordinates flew once again to Jeddah and assured Ahmed Alireza that the Samarco-Atlas contract remained valid, Tr. at 3294, 3298-99, 3302, and that Mobil would support the needs of [Atlas]. Tr. at 3304. 85 Given this plentiful, undisputed evidence of Tavoulareas' personal involvement in the establishment and operation of Atlas to Peter's manifest benefit, we conclude that no reasonable jury could, on this record, find that the set up allegation was false. 33