Catagory:Breach of Contract

1
Chancery Court Resolves Dispute over Competing Exclusive Remedy Clauses in a SPA
2
Chancery Court Holds That a General Partner Breached a Limited Partnership Agreement for Failure to Act in the Best Interests of the Master Limited Partnership; $171 Million in Damages
3
Fiduciary and Contractual Claims Arising from LLC Management Dispute Survive a Motion to Dismiss
4
Chancery Court Finds Majority Partner Breached Contractual and Fiduciary Obligations to the Minority
5
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. Apollo (Mauritius) Holdings Pvt. Ltd., et al., C.A. No. 8980-VCG (October 31, 2014) (Glasscock, V.C.)
6
Mehta v. Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., C.A. No. 6891-VCL (October 20, 2014) (Laster, V.C.)
7
Black Horse Capital, LP, et al. v. Xstelos Holdings, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 8642-VCP (September 30, 2014) (Parsons, V.C.)
8
Eurofins Panlabs, Inc. v. Ricerca Biosciences, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 8431-VCN (May 30, 2014) (Noble, V.C.)
9
2009 Caiola Family Trust, et al. v. PWA, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 8028-VCP (Apr. 30, 2014) (Parsons, V.C.)
10
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., et al. v. Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. No. 8321-VCG (Glasscock, V.C.)

Chancery Court Resolves Dispute over Competing Exclusive Remedy Clauses in a SPA

By Lisa Stark and Andrew Lloyd

In Alliant Techsystems, Inc. v. MidOcean Bushnell Holdings, L.P., C.A. No.9813-CB (Del. Ch. Apr. 24, 2015, rev. Apr. 27, 2015), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that an exclusive remedy clause in a stock purchase agreement did not require the parties to submit their dispute over the accounting methodology used to calculate the net working capital of the seller at closing to a court for resolution under the indemnification provisions in the SPA. Rather, the Court held that an accounting firm must resolve the parties’ dispute under a separate exclusive remedy provision. The Court’s decision meant that the buyer had recourse to a larger pool of funds from which it could potentially satisfy its purchase price adjustment claim following closing.

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Chancery Court Holds That a General Partner Breached a Limited Partnership Agreement for Failure to Act in the Best Interests of the Master Limited Partnership; $171 Million in Damages

By Scott Waxman and Joshua Haft

The Chancery Court held that a general partner of a master limited partnership breached the entity’s limited partnership agreement by failing to act in the best interests of the entity and instead acting in a manner that benefited the parent of its general partner and increased distributions to the entity’s common unitholders. The Chancery Court focused on the general partner’s failure to consider lessons learned from a similar past transaction and the inadequacy of the financial advisor’s fairness opinion.

In In re: El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. Derivative Litigation, plaintiff challenged two transactions in which El Paso Corporation (“Parent”) sold to El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P., a master limited partnership (“El Paso MLP”), its interest in two subsidiaries of Parent, Southern LNG Company, L.L.C. and Elba Express, L.L.C. (collectively, “Elba”). Both subsidiaries were engaged in the liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) business. Parent is the parent company of El Paso MLP’s general partner, El Paso Pipeline GP Company, L.L.C. (the “General Partner”); and thus, Parent exercised control over El Paso MLP through the General Partner. In the first transaction, in March 2010, Parent dropped-down a 51% interest in Elba to El Paso MLP for total consideration of $963 million (the “Spring Dropdown”). In the second transaction, in November 2010, Parent dropped-down to El Paso MLP the remaining 49% interest in Elba for at least $931 million and 15% of another Parent subsidiary, for total consideration of $1.412 billion (the “Fall Dropdown”).

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Fiduciary and Contractual Claims Arising from LLC Management Dispute Survive a Motion to Dismiss

By Scott Waxman and Ryan Drzemiecki

In an ongoing dispute between the members of a Delaware limited liability company, Vice Chancellor Parsons was tasked with resolving pre-trial motions filed by both the managing member defendants and the non-managing member plaintiffs. Except for plaintiffs’ claim of waste, V.C. Parsons denied the defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss finding that, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiffs, facts have been pleaded that make the defendants’ inappropriate at this stage of the litigation.  In addition, V.C. Parsons denied plaintiffs motion of summary judgment, which sought to remove the defendant LLC from its position as managing member, finding that the plaintiffs have not yet produced evidence sufficient to meet their burden of showing that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

This case involves an ongoing dispute between the managing member and non-managing members of Dunes Point West, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Company”). The Company was formed in 2006 to acquire and operate an apartment complex in in the State of Kansas (the “Apartment Complex”). Presently, Louis Cortese and the 2009 Caiola Family Trust (“Plaintiffs”) collectively hold 90% of the membership interests in the Company. Defendants include the Company’s managing member and holder of 10% of its membership interests, PWA, LLC, a Kansas limited liability company (“PWA”) and Ward Katz, the managing member of PWA.

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Chancery Court Finds Majority Partner Breached Contractual and Fiduciary Obligations to the Minority

By Scott Waxman and Claire White

In this Chancery Court decision, VC Laster examined damages owing to plaintiffs for claims of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties of care and loyalty in connection with the sale of a partnership’s assets.  The plaintiffs, partners in a D.C. partnership, had proved at trial that the sale by the majority partners (U.S. Cellular) to a related party was not entirely fair to them, as minority holders.

On the breach of contract claim, VC Laster found that defendants had breached a confidentiality provision in the partnership agreement by sharing confidential information regarding the partnership with a valuation firm, for the purposes of obtaining a valuation for the sale transaction.  Notwithstanding the breach, only nominal damages were awarded as plaintiffs failed to show proof of actual injury from the breach.  Among other facts, the Count highlighted that the confidentiality provision in the partnership agreement could have been waived by the majority partners.

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Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. Apollo (Mauritius) Holdings Pvt. Ltd., et al., C.A. No. 8980-VCG (October 31, 2014) (Glasscock, V.C.)

By David Bernstein and Marisa DiLemme

This decision involves a merger agreement (the “Agreement”) between Apollo (Mauritius) Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (“Cooper”), a principal purpose of which was for Apollo to acquire Cooper’s 65% interest in Chengshan Cooper Tires (“CCT”), a Chinese tire manufacturer. After the merger was announced, the minority owner of CCT apparently caused CCT’s union workers to go on strike by telling them that if they did not protest, they would be fired.  The minority partner also prevented Cooper from getting access to CCT’s financial records, which made it impossible for Cooper to prepare and deliver financial statements for the third quarter of 2013 as required by the Agreement.  Apollo refused to consummate the merger and sought a judicial declaration that its refusal was not a breach of the Agreement because Cooper had not satisfied several conditions to closing.

Vice Chancellor Glasscock agreed that Apollo was not required to carry out the merger because Cooper had not satisfied some of the conditions to closing.  Among other things, he found that the strike at CCT violated a Cooper covenant to cause each of its subsidiaries to “conduct its business in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice.”  Cooper argued that an exception to the definition of “Material Adverse Effect” for a negative reaction to the Agreement by Cooper’s labor unions or joint venture partners also applied to the covenant to cause all subsidiaries to conduct their businesses in the ordinary course, but Vice Chancellor Glasscock rejected this argument, pointing out that even within the definition of Material Adverse Effect, there were some things (events that would prevent Cooper from fulfilling its obligations under the Agreement or from consummating the merger) that were not subject to the exception.

Another argument that Cooper made is that by attempting to negotiate terms on which the minority owner of CCT would withdraw its opposition to the transaction, Apollo acquiesced in proceeding with the merger despite what the minority owner was doing.  Vice Chancellor Glasscock rejected this argument, saying that Apollo was negotiating with the minority owner in an effort to make it possible for the merger to proceed.

CoopervApollo

Mehta v. Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., C.A. No. 6891-VCL (October 20, 2014) (Laster, V.C.)

By Scott Waxman and Caitlin Howe

Pro se plaintiffs, Ram and Neena Mehta (the “Mehtas”), owned common stock of defendant Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (“Smurfit”), which, after reorganizing in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, merged with a wholly-owned acquisition subsidiary of Rock-Tenn Company (“Rock-Tenn Sub” and “Rock-Tenn Parent”, respectively). The Mehtas challenged (i) decisions leading to Smurfit’s bankruptcy, (ii) the merger with Rock-Tenn Sub, and (iii) Rock-Tenn Sub’s failure to pay the Mehtas the merger consideration from the Rock-Tenn Sub/Smurfit merger. The defendants moved to dismiss the Mehtas’ claims for failure to state a claim, and Vice Chancellor Laster granted the defendants’ motion with respect to claims (i) and (ii); however, claim (iii) survives, with the caveat that the Mehtas are not entitled to indirect or consequential damages.

On June 21, 2010, Smurfit emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, having cancelled and re-issued 95% of its stock to its former creditors and the remainder to its shareholders, including the Mehtas who owned 1,486 shares after the reorganization. Less than six months later, Smurfit and Rock-Tenn Parent announced their plans for a merger for cash and Rock-Tenn Parent stock consideration. The Mehtas timely filed a demand for appraisal, and the merger was subsequently consummated. However, the Mehtas eventually withdrew their demand and never filed a petition for appraisal. The Mehtas did not receive any merger consideration.

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Black Horse Capital, LP, et al. v. Xstelos Holdings, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 8642-VCP (September 30, 2014) (Parsons, V.C.)

By David Edgar and Joshua Haft

In Black Horse Capital, LP, et al. v. Xstelos Holdings, Inc., et al., the plaintiffs, including Cheval Holdings, Ltd. (“Cheval Holdings”), Black Horse Capital, LP, Black Horse Capital Master Fund Ltd. (together with Black Horse Capital, LP, “Black Horse”), and Ouray Holdings I AG, filed a breach of contract action arising out of a transaction in which the plaintiffs and defendants, Jonathan M. Couchman, Xstelos Holdings, Inc., and Xstelos Corp. (formerly known as Footstar Inc. and Footstar Corp. (“Footstar”)) jointly acquired a pharmaceuticals company, CPEX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“CPEX”), which is now wholly owned by defendant FCB I Holdings, Inc. (“FCB Holdings”), an entity jointly owned by Footstar and Cheval Holdings. Immediately following the closing of the acquisition, FCB Holdings was owned 80.5% by Footstar and 19.5% by Cheval Holdings.

The plaintiffs’ claims arose out of an alleged oral promise in December 2010 by the defendants to transfer to the plaintiffs certain assets of CPEX, specifically an additional 60% ownership interest in the drug product known as SER-120 and referred to as “Serenity” by the court. The transfer was to occur after the closing of the CPEX acquisition in exchange for the plaintiffs funding a disproportionately large bridge loan to FCB Holdings (the “Serenity Agreement”). On January 3, 2011, each of Black Horse and Footstar entered into separate bridge loan commitment letters with FCB Holdings and CPEX in the amounts of $10 million and $3 million, respectively. In April 2011, the bridge loans were made to FCB Holdings and the CPEX acquisition closed. In connection with the CPEX acquisition, the bridge loans, and the other related transactions, the parties entered into customary transaction documents. Although the alleged oral promise of the Serenity Agreement was made prior to the parties entering into the transaction documents, none of the transaction documents executed in connection with the loan or the merger referenced the Serenity Agreement. Furthermore, the transaction documents also contained customary integration clauses. By December 2012, the transfer of assets contemplated by the Serenity Agreement had not occurred and relations between the parties deteriorated to the point where the plaintiffs filed this action in June 2013.

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Eurofins Panlabs, Inc. v. Ricerca Biosciences, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 8431-VCN (May 30, 2014) (Noble, V.C.)

By David Bernstein and Marisa DiLemme

The decision in Eurofins Panlabs, Inc. v. Ricerca Biosciences, LLC concerns a Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement (the “SAPA”) entered into in September 2012 by plaintiff, Eurofins Panlabs, Inc. (“Eurofins”), a Delaware corporation, and defendants, Ricerca Biosciences, LLC (“Ricerca”), a Delaware limited liability company, and Ricerca Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation.  Ronald Ian Lennox (“Lennox”), Chairman and CEO of Ricerca, is also a defendant in the case.

Most of the opinion focuses on Eurofins’ claims against Ricerca related to specific provisions of the SAPA, whether Ricerca breached these provisions, and whether the breaches of contract were also fraudulent.  The Court dismissed many of Eurofins’ claims against Ricerca.  All claims against Lennox, aside from those based on the relationship with AstraZeneca PLC (“AZ”), were also dismissed.

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2009 Caiola Family Trust, et al. v. PWA, LLC, et al., C.A. No. 8028-VCP (Apr. 30, 2014) (Parsons, V.C.)

By Nick Froio and Marisa DiLemme

In this opinion, Vice Chancellor Parsons considers the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment as to the proper interpretation of a key provision of the operating agreement (the “Operating Agreement”) of Dunes Point West Associates, LLC (the “Company”), a Delaware limited liability company, relating to the Company’s management. The plaintiffs, together, own 90% of the Company, and are the only non-managing members of the Company. The defendants are PWA, LLC (“PWA”), the Company’s managing member and the holder of a10% interest in the Company, and Ward Katz, the managing member of PWA and sole owner of the Company’s property manager, Dunes Residential Services, Inc. (“DRS”). In July 2012, plaintiffs voted to terminate DRS as property manager. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiffs voted to terminate PWA as managing member for “Cause” due to PWA having materially breached the Operating Agreement by not implementing their decision to replace DRS with a new property manager.

The plaintiffs argued that Section 8.4(a) of the Operating Agreement allows the non-managing members to mandate removal of the property manager by majority vote since one of the actions upon which the non-managing members are entitled to vote under Section 8.4(a) included the termination of the management agreement under which DRS was appointed property manager. The defendants argued that Section 8.4(a) of the Operating Agreement only gives the non-managing members a limited veto right over those Company actions. The Court found Section 8.4(a) to be unambiguous and agreed with the defendant’s interpretation of the provision as granting only a limited veto power.

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Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., et al. v. Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. No. 8321-VCG (Glasscock, V.C.)

By Wilson Chu and Mark Hammes

In this action for breach of contract, Plaintiff institutional investors held cumulative preferred stock of Spanish Broadcasting System (“SBS”), a Delaware corporation, with dividends payable quarterly if so declared by the board of directors. If the dividends were unpaid for four consecutive quarters, a voting rights trigger in the shares’ Certificate of Designation (“Certificate”) allowed the holders of the preferred stock to call a special meeting and elect two additional directors to SBS’s board. In addition, the Certificate prohibited SBS from incurring additional debt after such a triggering event.

During 2009, SBS began to fail to make dividend payments. Plaintiffs alleged a triggering event occurred no later than July 2010. Plaintiffs did not at that time assert their rights under the Certificate, nor did they when SBS incurred additional debt in publicly announced transactions during 2011 and 2012. Plaintiffs brought suit for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. SBS argued that no triggering event occurred until after the debt transactions, and raised defenses including laches and acquiescence.

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