World

Personal Injury Lawsuits: Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Medical Condition

Published

3 years ago

April 14, 2022

Whether it is a vehicle accident, slip and fall incident, or any other incidents that occur out of negligence, most personal injury lawsuits’ primary claim is about injuries that the victim suffered from due to the incident. In most cases, the injuries are rightly claimed but distinguishing them from a previously existing medical condition, or injuries becomes very hard for the case, and the victim’s injury lawyer often struggles with proving this distinction.

Plaintiff’s age and medical history play a huge role in various incidents and injuries. Hence in many cases, it is quite common for the individual to have suffered from similar medical conditions before. A similar or identical medical condition can be from a previous incident, such as a road accident, or natural aging, such as a fractured knee cap.

In such cases, the insurance companies or the defenders usually argue that the existing medical condition of the plaintiff is not because of the incident and that they are in the same medical condition as they had experienced before; hence the incident did not cause any injuries. It is common for insurance companies to have expert insurance medical examiners provide an opinion on the case. The opinion by these doctors is mostly biased as the insurance company is paying them, so they work in their defense. Hence, fighting the case supported by a medical examiner’s opinion gets tougher.

The terminology for someone who has been re-injured similarly is “aggravation of a pre-existing condition.” This represents that the individual did have a previous medical condition or injuries. Still, the accident aggravated or enhanced the injuries or condition, making it more symptomatic, deeming the individual entitled to the insurance claim or the claim against the defendant for worsening the condition. The aggravation of a pre-existing condition is most common in injuries involving neck injuries, back injuries, and traumatic brain injuries.

In lawsuits of aggravation of a pre-existing condition, providing information regarding the previous medical condition and the post-accident condition is not enough. A medical testimony by a licensed healthcare practitioner is required. In most cases, the existing practitioner treating the plaintiff’s medical condition provides the testimony, but sometimes the plaintiff also hires a new practitioner for the medical testimony.

Lawsuit Merit:

Different states have different terms for aggravation of a pre-existing condition lawsuit. It is important to have a professional personal injury lawyer fighting your case to make it strong and avail as much compensation as possible. “The compensation arising from the jury’s verdict of such cases can be huge and cover non-economic losses,” says Felix Gonzalez.

World

TRG Chairman Khaishgi and CEO Aslam implicated in $150 million fraud

Published

7 days ago

June 23, 2025

Jenny Jackson

In a scathing 52-page decision, the Sindh High Court has found that TRG Pakistan’s management was acting fraudulently and that Bermuda-based Greentree Holdings historic and prospective purchase of TRG shares were illegal, fraudulent and oppressive.

The Sindh High Court has further directed TRGP to immediately hold board elections that have been overdue and illegally withheld by the existing board since January 14, 2025.

In the landmark ruling, the Sindh High Court has blocked the attempted takeover of TRG Pakistan Limited by Greentree Holdings, declaring that the shares acquired by Greentree, nearly 30% of TRG’s stock, were unlawfully financed using TRG’s funds in violation of Section 86(2) of the Companies Act 2017.

“Having concluded that the affairs of TRGP are being conducted in an unlawful and fraudulent manner and in a manner oppressive to members such as the Petitioner (Zia Chishti), the case falls for corrective orders under sub-section (2) of section 286 of the Companies Act,” Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry concluded.

The case was brought by TRGP former CEO and founder Pakistani-American technology entrepreneur Zia Chishti against TRG Pakistan, its associate TRG International and TRG International’s wholly-owned shell company Greentree Limited. In addition, the case named AKD Securities for managing Greentree’s illegal tender offer as well as various regulators requiring that they act to perform their regulatory duties.

The case centred around the dispute that shell company Greentree Limited was fraudulently using TRG Pakistan’s own funds to purchase TRG Pakistan’s shares in order to give control to Zia Chishti’s former partners Mohammed Khaishgi, Hasnain Aslam and Pinebridge Investments.

According to the case facts, the Chairman of TRG Pakistan Mohammed Khaishgi and the CEO of TRG Pakistan Hasnain Aslam masterminded the $150 million fraud. They did so together with Hong Kong based fund manager Pinebridge who has two nominees on TRG Pakistan’s board, Mr. John Leone and Mr. Patrick McGinnis.

According to the court papers, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis set up a shell company called Greentree which they secretly controlled and from which they started buying up shares of TRG Pakistan. The fraud was that Greentree was using TRG Pakistan’s funds itself. The idea was to give Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis control over TRG Pakistan even though they owned less than 1% of the company, lawyers of the petitioner told the court.

This was all part of a broader battle for control over TRG Pakistan that is raging between Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis on one side and TRG Pakistan founder Zia Chishti on the other side. Zia Chishti has been trying to retake control of TRG Pakistan after he was forced to resign in 2021 based on sexual misconduct allegations made by a former employee of his. This year those allegations were shown to be without basis in litigation that Chishti launched in the United Kingdom against The Telegraph newspaper which had printed the allegations. The Telegraph was forced to apologize for 13 separate articles it published about Chishti and paid him damages and legal costs.

After Chishti resigned in 2021, Khaishgi, Aslam, Leone, and McGinnis moved to take total control over TRG Pakistan and its various subsidiaries including TRG International and to block out Chishti. The Sindh High Court’s ruling today has reversed that effort, ruling the scheme fraudulent, illegal, and oppressive.

It now appears that Zia Chishti will take control of TRG Pakistan in short order when elections are called. He and his family are now the largest shareholders with over 30% interest. He is closely followed by companies related to Jahangir Siddiqui & Company which have over a 20% interest. The result appears to be a complete vindication for Zia Chishti and damning for his rivals Aslam, Khaishgi, Leone, and McGinnis who have been ruled to have been conducting a fraud.

TRG Pakistan’s share price declined by over 8% on the news on heavy volume. Market experts say that this was because the tender offer at Rs 75 was gone and that now shares would trade closer to their natural value. Presently the shares are trading at Rs 59 per share.

According to the court ruling, since 2021, shell company Greentree had purchased approximately 30% of TRG shares using $80 million of TRG’s own money, which means that that the directors of TRG Pakistan allowed company assets to be funneled through offshore affiliates TRG International and Greentree for acquiring TRG’s shares – a move deemed both fraudulent and oppressive to minority shareholders. The Sindh High Court also found illegal Greentree’s further attempt to purchase another 35% of TRG shares using another $70 million of TRG’s money in a tender offer.

The ruling is a major victory for the tech entrepreneur Zia Chishti against his former partners and the legal ruling paves the way for him to take control of TRG in a few weeks.