The Delaware Court of Chancery recently allowed claims involving breach of fiduciary duty and fraud against the sellers of a business to survive a motion to dismiss. The business provided non-legal administrative services to law firms and their mortgage lender clients in connection with mortgage foreclosures in a number of Western and Midwestern states. The organizational structure of the businesses was relatively complex and involved overlapping entities. The causes of action were seven in number and the court described the multiple motions to dismiss by the defendants as including a “somewhat dizzying array of arguments and counter-arguments.”
The 61-page opinion in CMS Investment Holdings LLC v. Castle, C.A. No. 9468-VCP (Del. Ch. June 23, 2015), provides an extensive description of the facts. In essence, the claims for breach of the LLC agreement, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent transfer and related claims were based on an alleged scheme to deprive the purchaser of receiving the benefit of its bargain. In particular, the LLC that was created to receive the fees generated for administrative services was not being utilized in the manner intended by the parties. For example, instead of the fees being paid to the LLC, the defendants retained the fees for themselves, leading to the LLC’s default on its debt obligations. Moreover, instead of helping the LLC to restructure, the defendants allegedly ushered it into insolvency and then bought the most valuable assets of the company from the LLC’s receivership, the opinion said.
