A mid-sized company operating in Latin America became entangled in a complex legal dispute that named both the organization and individual executives. During the initial crisis response, Pholus was brought in to help leadership clarify their communications with legal counsel and reduce internal panic. We led an accountability session that calmed immediate confusion and established clearer pathways to external attorneys.
The company chose not to continue with ongoing advisory support after that session. But during our brief engagement, we had requested to review their insurance coverage and risk policies as part of standard due diligence. What we discovered was alarming: the company had no Directors and Officers insurance in place. One director, personally named in the lawsuit, was now exposed to legal, reputational, and financial risk with no organizational safety net. They had believed the company's general liability coverage would protect them. It did not.
When the director realized they were legally exposed and the company had moved on without addressing their personal vulnerability, they reached out to Pholus privately. They needed someone to protect their interests when the organization wouldn't. We switched from company advisor to personal counsel, working quietly to remove the director from the lawsuit and ultimately coordinate their exit from an organization that had failed to protect them when it mattered most.
This case study is relevant if you're facing:
We identified a critical insurance gap during initial corporate engagement that left an executive personally exposed. While advising the company on communication with external legal counsel, we requested to review insurance coverage and risk policies as standard practice. The absence of Directors and Officers insurance meant that executives named in the lawsuit had no organizational protection from personal liability. When we flagged this to leadership, the company chose to end the advisory relationship and rely solely on their legal team. But the director who had been personally named understood the implications immediately and reached out privately for continued support.
We switched from corporate advisor to personal counsel, coordinating with the director's legal team to remove them from liability. Working behind the scenes with legal representatives, we helped correct prior statements, clarify the director's limited role in contested decisions, and document their lack of involvement in certain actions under scrutiny. The director had not acted in bad faith but had been caught in organizational crossfire due to title and timing. We built a factual case that made their inclusion in the lawsuit untenable, focusing on what they did and didn't do rather than engaging in broader organizational defense strategies.
We successfully had the director removed from the lawsuit through quiet legal coordination without public disclosure. Within weeks, legal counsel achieved removal from the proceedings. Because the company was privately held, no press release was issued and no media coverage occurred. The removal was handled discreetly through standard legal motion practice, and the director's name was cleared without drawing attention to the underlying dispute or their temporary involvement.
We guided the director through a dignified exit after trust in the organization broke down. While the legal threat had been eliminated, the director's relationship with the company was irreparably damaged. The failure to maintain basic governance protections and the organization's unwillingness to prioritize executive safety had destroyed confidence in leadership. We helped manage the resignation transition, ensuring that exit communications remained professional, no unnecessary bridges were burned, and the director's next steps were protected and planned. The departure was clean, respectful, and positioned as a natural transition rather than a crisis-driven rupture.
The full case study details the legal coordination strategy we used to remove the director from proceedings without escalating visibility, and the exit planning framework that preserved professional relationships while acknowledging broken trust.
If you're an executive or board member facing personal legal exposure due to organizational gaps, discovering that governance protections you relied on don't exist, or questioning whether to exit an organization that failed to protect you during crisis, Pholus provides individual executive advisory that puts your interests first.
This expertise also applies when you're considering board service in high-risk jurisdictions and need independent risk assessment, when you need someone to advocate for you separately from organizational counsel, or when trust has broken down and you need to coordinate an exit that protects your reputation and future opportunities.