Tygon Peak Capital Management, LLC (“Tygon Peak”), a private equity firm, filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court against Voice Comm, LLC (“Voice Comm”) and its ownership group alleging breach of contract, unjust enrichment, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, deceptive trade practices, and defamation. (Verified Complaint, Tygon Peak Capital Management, LLC v. Mobile Investments Investco, LLC, No. 2019-0847 (Del. Ch. Oct 24, 2019)). The defendants in the suit include Voice Comm’s parent company, Mobile Investments Investco, LLC (“Investco”), the other firms that invested in Investco, and the individuals in charge of these investment companies who also sat on the boards of Investco and its subsidiaries. Id. Tygon Peak owns 100% of Investco’s Class A Units and 6.8% of Investco’s Class B Units and has a seat on Investco’s Board of Managers (“Investco’s Board”). Id. The suit arose after negotiations broke down over a potential buyout of Tygon Peak’s Investco stock. (Leonard, Bloomberg Law).
Read MoreIn Freedom Watch, Inc. et al., v. Google, Inc. et al, No. 1:18-cv-02030, 2019 WL 1201549 (D.C. Cir. 2019), Freedom Watch, Inc., a non-profit public interest organization (“Freedom Watch”) and Laura Lommer, a social media user (collectively, the “Plaintiffs”) brought an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against Google, Inc., Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., and Apple, Inc. (collectively, the “Defendants”) alleging that Defendants worked together to intentionally and willfully suppress politically conservative content. The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of standing and for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” The court granted the motion, stating that the Plaintiffs have failed to tie their concerns to colorable legal claims.
Read MoreOn March 11, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a complaint containing a multitude of charges related to an alleged illegal stock distribution and market manipulation scheme against David Foley and others. See complaint. The complaint identifies four groups of defendants: David R. Foley, Lisa L. Foley, and Jeffrey A. Foley (collectively, the “Stock Issuers”); Nanotech Entertainment, Inc. (“NTEK”) and Nanotech Gaming, Inc. (“NTGL”), affiliates of the Stock Issuers; Bernnie L. Blankenship (the “Stock Promoter”); and River North Equity LLC, Edward M. Liceaga, and Michael A. Chavez, the unregistered broker-dealers.
Read MoreIn Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG (Del. Ch. 2018 WL 4719347), the plaintiff pharmaceutical company (“Akorn”) brought suit against Fresenius seeking specific performance of its signed merger agreement. Fresenius argued it was permitted to terminate the merger agreement because Akorn’s actions, performance, and misrepresentations following execution of the agreement constituted a materially adverse effect (“MAE”) under the terms of the merger agreement and thus excused Fresenius’s obligation to perform. The court held that Fresenius legally terminated its merger agreement with Akorn because: (1) Akorn made material misrepresentations with regard to its business operations and the status of its regulatory compliance before the closing date, (2) Akorn did not materially comply with or perform its obligations under the merger agreement prior to the effective closing date, and (3) Akorn suffered a general MAE that allowed Fresenius to terminate the agreement.
Read MoreIn SEC v. Cade, No. 2:18-cv-01323-JEO (N.D. Ala. Aug. 17, 2018), the SEC filed an initial complaint against Catlin Cade (“defendant”) alleging a violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and SEC Rule 10b-5 by trading shares of Golden Enterprises, Inc. (“Golden”) on the basis of material nonpublic information.
According to the allegations, a director of Golden learned of nonpublic information pertaining to a contemplated merger between Golden and a second company. The director separately owned and controlled a different privately held company (“Director’s Company”)
On August 7, Elon Musk made an abrupt announcement regarding his plan to take Tesla private. Mr. Musk claimed that this Twitter announcement came after he had “secured” funding from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. (Ben Bain and Matt Robinson, Bloomberg). After the announcement, Tesla’s shares rose in value to over $381 per share, from $342 (the closing price on August 6). (Mark Matousek, Business Insider). Nevertheless, the share price dropped dramatically over the next few weeks to as low as $263 on September 7.
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