World Award Foundation v. Anbang Insurance Group

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE WORLD AWARD FOUNDATION § INC., AMER GROUP LLC, AN § BANG GROUP LLC, and AB § No. 244, 2020 STABLE GROUP LLC, § § Court Below: Superior Court Plaintiffs Below, § of the State of Delaware Appellants, § § C.A. No. N19J-05055 v. § § ANBANG INSURANCE GROUP § CO. LTD., CBIRC, and BEIJING § GREAT HUA BANG § INVESTMENT GROUP CO. LTD., § § Defendants Below, § Appellees. § Submitted: October 6, 2020 Decided: October 15, 2020 Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and TRAYNOR, Justices.

ORDER (1) Andy Bang filed a pro se notice of appeal in this matter. Because all of the appellants are entities, on August 7, 2020, the Clerk of the Court directed the appellants to have counsel enter an appearance by August 21, 2020 or a notice to show cause would issue. On August 25, 2020, Mr. Bang submitted a motion for additional time to procure Delaware counsel; the deadline was extended to September 23, 2020. On September 24, 2020, Mr. Bang submitted an additional request for an extension, which the Court denied. (2) On September 25, 2020, the Senior Court Clerk issued a notice to show cause as to why the appeal should not be dismissed for failure of counsel to appear for the entity appellants. In response to the notice to show cause, Mr. Bang states that he owns 100% of the “shares of common stock[]” of appellant An Bang Group LLC and 5.1% of the “shares of common stock[]” of appellants Amer Group LLC and AB Stable Group LLC. He also states that he is a director of appellants World Award Foundation Inc. and An Bang Group LLC. He states that he has exhaustively, but unsuccessfully, attempted to retain counsel to represent the appellants in this appeal. He contends that the outcome of the litigation substantially impacts his individual rights, and that he therefore should be permitted to participate in the appeal on his own behalf or to proceed on the appellants’ behalf.

(3) We conclude that the action must be dismissed. In Delaware, a corporation or other entity “can act before a court only through an agent duly licensed to practice law.”1 Moreover, under Delaware law, a nonparty does not have standing to take an appeal to this Court, and a “mere interest in the outcome of litigation will not suffice to confer standing on a nonparty.”2 Therefore, Mr. Bang’s failure to intervene in the Superior Court “works a forfeiture of any claim to appellate standing.”3 NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b), that the appeal is DISMISSED.

BY THE COURT: /s/ James T. Vaughn, Jr. Justice