Miller v. American Capital, Ltd. (In re NewStarcom Holdings, Inc.)
Miller v. American Capital, Ltd. (In re NewStarcom Holdings, Inc.)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
INTRODUCTION
The Court now rules on four related motions in this adversary proceeding. The plaintiff, George R. Miller, as Chapter 7 Trustee for the estates of NewStarcom Holdings, Inc., et al. (the “Trustee”), claims that each defendant owed a fiduciary duty to one or more of the Debtors, and each defendant either breached his own fiduciary duties or assisted in another’s breach of fiduciary duties.
There are nine defendants to this adversary proceeding — seven individuals and two corporate entities. The individual defendants compose two distinct groups, based on their employment by one of the two aforementioned corporate entities. The “ACAS Defendants”
The Court will grant the Trustee’s motion to take judicial notice of the Debtors’ schedules; the Debtors’ schedules are an admissible adjudicative fact for which authenticity is not questioned. The Court must make clear, however, that taking notice of the schedules does not establish as fact any attestations within them but only that a representative of the Debtors made, under penalty of perjury, those attestations.
The Court will deny the Trustee’s motion for reconsideration. After a careful review of the record and prior hearings, the Court has come to several conclusions. First, the Court believes that the Trustee now asserts an entirely new fraudulent transfer claim, a claim that has never previously been presented to or dismissed by this Court. Second, even if the Court’s earlier ruling dismissed this fraudulent transfer claim, the Trustee has failed to prove that new evidence or the concerns of justice warrant reconsideration. Third, the Trustee’s delay in asserting this fraudulent transfer is unacceptable. Finally, the proper defendant for the Trustee’s newly asserted fraudulent transfer is the “New Mateo Stock Trust,” a party the Trustee has never named as a defendant, and therefore the claim is improperly asserted in this proceeding.
The Court will grant, in part, the ACAS Defendants’ motion to strike. The basic assertions of the ACAS Defendants are correct; the Brownstein Company’s expert report contains improper legal conclusions and it is within the Court’s power to strike the entire report. For three reasons, however, the Court will deny, in part, the motion to strike. First, the ACAS Defendants have not demonstrated that controlling authority requires the Court to strike the entire report. Second, because this adversary proceeding will not involve a lay jury, there is minimal concern that the report’s improper legal conclusions will mislead the trier of fact. Third, only a small portion of the report contains improper legal conclusions; the vast majority of the report consists of relevant, admissi
Finally, the Court will grant summary judgment to the New Mateo Defendants on all claims. At trial, the Trustee would bear the burden of proof and persuasion on his claims that the New Mateo Defendants breached fiduciary duties to the Debtors or knowingly assisted the ACAS Defendants in breaching their own duties to the Debtors. The New Mateo Defendants advance three substantive legal arguments in support of summary judgment: (1) any fiduciary duties they owed to the Debtors were extremely narrow in scope, (2) the “breaches” alleged by the Trustee did not fall within those narrow duties and (3) they did not “aid and abet” any breaches of fiduciary duties by the ACAS Defendants. The New Mateo Defendants further argue that the Trustee has failed to point to any evidence in support of several necessary elements of his claims and, therefore, the Court must grant summary judgment on those claims.
In response, the Trustee paints a vivid picture of the Debtors’ descent in bankruptcy. The Court finds that the Trustee has demonstrated triable issues of fact on whether the ACAS Defendants breached their fiduciary duties to the Debtors. Unfortunately for the Trustee, the New Mat-co Defendants are seeking summary judgment. The Trustee’s response to the request for summary judgment by these defendants is wholly inadequate.
First; the Trustee fails to specify the precise nature of each claim he asserts— he does not even identify which of his claims are for breach of the duty of care, and which are for the breach of the duty of loyalty.
JURISDICTION
The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this adversary proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b). This adversary proceeding is a core proceeding pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2). Venue is proper in the Bankruptcy Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1409(a). This action is brought as an adversary proceeding pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7001.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
ACAS is a publicly traded private-equity firm, incorporated in Delaware, with its principal place of business in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Debtors had a simple corporate structure. NHI is a holding company that owns 100% of the equity in NSC Holdings, Inc. (“NSC”).
Constar, Port City and Old Mateo were electrical contractors operating in different geographic regions: Constar operated in and around Boston, Port City operated in the Carolinas and Old Mateo operated in upstate New York.
The operating subsidiaries shared a chief financial officer. All three had their operating accounts at Citizens, while CNA Surety (“CNA”) provided bonding for all three on a consolidated basis. The operating subsidiaries had very little control over their finances; each subsidiary received a weekly operating allowance after conference calls with the directors at NSC & NHL
ACAS’s ownership of NewStarcom was, in part, the result of a leveraged buyout; as a result, NHI and its subsidiaries were jointly and severally liable for a revolving $10 million credit agreement with Citizens.
Within days thereafter, the Director Defendants advised Barber that Old Mateo would also be shutdown.
Simultaneously, Citizens moved aggressively to protect its interests. It began sweeping cash from Old Mateo’s bank accounts continuously, which led to several checks bouncing, which in turn led to vendors to threaten to withhold goods, subcontractors to threaten to withhold services and project owners to threaten to withhold payment.
Citizens showed little interest in running an elongated sale process; it simply wanted to “recover as much money as possible as fast as possible.”
Eventually, the sale closed for $2 million in cash and a number of additional terms.
In November 2011, the Trustee tiled his Amended Complaint against the ACAS Defendants and the New Mateo Defendants.
ANALYSIS
I. Applicable Legal Standards Upon Summary Judgment
A. Summary Judgment Standard
Fed.R.Bank.P. 7056 makes Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 applicable to adversary proceedings in bankruptcy. Summary judgment is designed “to avoid trial or extensive discovery if facts are settled and dispute turns on issue of law.”
Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a) therefore requires the Court to grant summary judgment if “the movant shows there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” The movant for summary judgment bears the initial burden of persuasion, and must. point to an absence of evidence in support of the non-movant’s case.
Evidence that “is merely colorable or is not significantly probative” cannot deter summary judgment.
B. Breach of Fiduciary Duty
A claim for breach of fiduciary duty “requires proof of two elements: (1) that a fiduciary duty existed and (2) that the defendant breached that duty.”
Although most cases on fiduciary duty deal with directors, the Delaware courts have stated that the fiduciary duties of officers are the same as directors.
C. Aiding and Abetting a Breach of Fiduciary Duty
A claim of aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty has three elements: (1) the existence of a fiduciary relationship, (2) a breach of the fiduciary’s duty and (3) knowing participation in that breach by a party not in direct fiduciary relationship.
D. Combining the Procedural and Substantive Law
Because the Court is reviewing a motion for summary judgment, a proper understanding of the interaction between the procedural law on summary judgment and the substantive law on fiduciary duties is necessary. Although the Trustee’s briefing paints a disturbing picture of the events leading up to the Debtors’ bankruptcy filing, that broad picture is irrelevant to this motion for summary judgment. In order for his claims against the New Mateo Defendants to survive summary judgment, the Trustee must point to specific, admissible facts in the record that would allow the Court to find, at trial, that the Trustee has carried his burden of persuasion and production on each element of his claims.
1. Breach of fiduciary duty.
At trial, the Trustee would bear the burden on both the existence of a duty and its breach. At summary judgment, the existence of a fiduciary duty is a mixed question of law and fact, and requires several steps to analyze. First, the Court must ask a factual question — what was the nature of the relationship between the defendant and the Debtors? Second, based on the facts found, the Court then answers a question of law — does Delaware law provide that, because of his relationship to the Debtors, the defendant owed them fiduciary duties? Finally, whether a defendant’s actions breached his fiduciary duties is primarily a question of fact.
2. Aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty
At trial, the Trustee would bear the burden of proving all three elements of this claim. First, the Trustee would need to prove the existence of a fiduciary relationship between the ACAS Defendants and the Debtors. Second, the Trustee would need to prove that an ACAS Defendant breached his fiduciary duty to the Debtors. Finally, the Trustee would need to prove that a New Mateo Defendant “knowingly participated” in that breach. The New Mateo Defendants have not disputed the first two elements.
When considering the third element— knowing participation — at the summary judgment stage, the Court is asking two questions of fact: (1) did a New Mateo Defendant know that he was aiding an
3. On whose behalf may the Trustee assert claims?
Finally, the Court agrees with the New Mateo Defendants that the Trustee may only assert claims held by the Debtors.
II. The Court Will Grant Summary Judgment on the Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims
In his Amended Complaint, the Trustee alleges only two breaches of fiduciary duty by the New Mateo Defendants: (1) “facilitating and participating in New Mateo’s purchase of Old Mateo ...” and (2) “facilitating and participating in a side deal to minimize ACAS’s exposure under the Letter of Credit.”
A. The New Mateo Defendants Did Not Breach Any Fiduciary Duty to the Debtors By Agreeing to Share ACAS’s Risk on the Letter of Credit.
The Court is compelled to grant summary judgment in favor of the New Mateo Defendants on the claim that the New Mateo Defendants breached a fiduciary duty to the Debtors by agreeing to share ACAS’s risk on a letter of credit. First, from a lack of discussion in his briefing, it appears that the Trustee has totally abandoned this claim; as a result, the Court
The Trustee’s briefing on this claim is so insufficient that Court finds that further consideration is unwarranted. The Trustee has not identified whether the New Mateo Defendants’ participation on the letter of credit was a breach of loyalty, or of due care. The Trustee has not identified to whom the New Mateo Defendants owed any duty. The Trustee has not offered an explanation as to how this deal harmed the Debtors. Because the Trustee’s memorandum in opposition to summary judgment — literally—does not mention this claim,
B. The New Mateo Defendants Did Not Breach Any Fiduciary Duty to the Debtors By Purchasing Old Mateo and Its Assets.
The New Mateo Defendants are also entitled to summary judgment on the Trustee’s claim that they violated fiduciary duties by purchasing Old Mateo. Again, the Trustee has failed to make specific arguments on what fiduciary duty, owed to whom, the New Mateo Defendants violated. Nonetheless, from the Trustee’s pleadings, the Court has inferred two specific claims. First, the Trustee believes that the New Mateo Defendants owed a duty of disclosure to Citizens, and violated that duty by “refusing] to set the record straight” regarding Old Mateo’s value.
1. The Trustee may not assert a breach of fiduciary duty claim held by Citizens.
As previously addressed by the Court, the Trustee does not have standing to assert claims on behalf of Citizens. To the extent the New Mateo Defendants’ had and violated a duty of disclosure to Citizens and that breach harmed the Debtors, the Debtors’ injury cannot be redressed by a breach of fiduciary claim. As a result, the Court will grant summary judgment on this particular breach of fiduciary duty claim. If the New Mateo Defendants did mislead Citizens, and this assisted the ACAS Defendants in breaching their fiduciary duties to the Debtors, this may be the basis for an aiding and abetting claim. The Court analyzes this theory below.
2. The New Mateo. Defendants owed, at most, a narrow fiduciary duty to NewStarcom and did not violate that narrow duty by purchasing Old Mateo.
Finally, the Court addresses and finds wanting the Trustee’s heftiest claim — that by purchasing Old Mateo, the New Mateo Defendants violated their duty of loyalty. But even if the Court assumed that the ACAS Defendants violated their fiduciary duties during the sale, there are no grounds for such a finding against the New Mateo Defendants. First, there is no smoking gun — no direct evidence of collu
Fiduciary law is designed to prevent fiduciaries from “us[ing] their position of trust and confidence to further their own interests.”
III. The Court Will Grant Summary Judgment on the Aiding and Abetting Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims.
In his Amended Complaint, the Trustee alleges ten breaches of fiduciary duty by all named Defendants.
The Court finds that Trustee has completely ignored the context of its aiding and abetting claims against the New Mat-eo Defendants. The New Mateo Defendants only became aware of NewStarcom’s financial problems in November of 2007,
With that context in mind, the Trustee has clearly failed on all of his aiding and abetting claims. The Trustee relies almost exclusively on the fact that the New Mateo Defendants “facilitated” the ACAS Defendants by purchasing Old Mateo. But, given the context in which the New Mateo Defendants entered the scene, mere facilitation is not enough. To survive summary judgment, the Trustee must point to evidence supporting one of two conclusions: that the New Mateo Defendants actually knew that the ACAS Defendants were committing a breach of fiduciary duty or that the ACAS Defendants’ actions were so egregious that the New Mateo Defendants had constructive knowledge they were aiding or abetting a breach of fiduciary duty. Because the Trustee has failed to show either, summary judgment will be granted on all aiding and abetting claims.
A. Narrowing Down the Trustee’s Claims
Three breaches alleged by the Trustee involve actions or choices that made by the ACAS Defendants before they first told the New Matco Defendants of NewStarcom’s distress.
1. Claims (f) and (g) only create a single aiding and abetting claim, which in reality is a direct claim for breach of fiduciary duty.
Claims (f) and (g) both assert a breach of fiduciary duty based on ACAS requesting New Mateo to share the risk on a letter of credit ACAS had issued to CNA and New Mateo agreeing to the same. Based on their wording in the .Complaint, claim (f) states a breach of fiduciary duty claim against the New Mateo Defendants, while claim (g) states a breach of fiduciary duty claim against the ACAS Defendants. The Court has already stated it will grant summary judgment in favor of New Mateo on the breach of fiduciary duty claim.
2. There is absolutely no basis for finding aiding and abetting liability on claims (b), (d), (e), (h), (i) and (j).
The Court will grant summary judgment on claims (b), (d), (e), (h), (i) and (j). Claims (b), (h) and (i) allege breaches of fiduciary duty by the ACAS Defendants that occurred well before the New Mateo Defendants became involved and the Trustee has introduced no evidence that would support finding aiding and abetting liability on these claims. Claims (d) and (e) allege breaches of the ACAS Defendants’ duty of care, and, therefore, the New Mat-eo Defendants are only liable for aiding and abetting if they “purposefully induced the breach of the duty of care.”
3.On claims (a), (c) and (d) — all based on the sale of Old Mateo — the Trustee fails to point to evidence showing that the New Mateo Defendants “knowingly aided or abetted” the ACAS Defendants.
Three remaining claims are based on the sale of Old Mateo to the New Mateo De
The Court finds it proper to analyze these claims together; actions by the New Mateo Defendants that “aid” or “abet” one of these claims almost certainly “aids” or “abets” the other two claims. Because the Trustee has wholly failed to introduce evidence that would support finding that the New Mateo Defendants “knowingly” aided or abetted the ACAS Defendants, the differences in the “knowing” requirement for each of the three claims do not require substantial consideration.
B. The Trustee Has Failed To Support His Claim on the ACAS Letter of Credit
The Court finds the Trustee has waived his claim based on the ACAS letter of credit. As stated above, the Trustee has failed to address this claim upon summary judgment. Because the Trustee would carry the burden of proof on this claim at trial, the Court must grant summary judgment to the New Mateo Defendants. The Trustee’s failure to mention this claim, fully explain the legal theory behind this claim, introduce evidence in support of this claim and connect that evidence to his legal argument render any further consideration pointless. Not only is there a “absence of evidence in support of an essential element” of this claim, there is a lack of explanation on what the essential elements of this claim are.
C. The Trustee’s Aiding and Abetting Claims Related to the Sale of Old Mateo Wholly Lack Evidence
The Trustee’s aiding and abetting claims fail for a simple reason — the Trustee has failed to produce any evidence that would support a finding that the New Mateo Defendants “aided” or “abetted” a breach of fiduciary duty committed by the ACAS Defendants in sale of Old Mateo. As the Court noted at the outset, aiding and abetting requires more than mere “facilitation.” The Trustee has totally failed to present evidence of direct knowledge or constructive knowledge by the New Mateo Defendants that the ACAS Defendants were breaching their fiduciary duties.
In support of his aiding and abetting claims, the Trustee first asserts, in direct contradiction of the record, that the New Mateo Defendants acted deceptively towards Citizens and its consultant.
The single quotation the Trustee offers in support of his assertion is from an email in which Citizens’ workout officer, Christine Butler, states that “Old Namco was around [$10 million] in revenue and Barber talked about going back to that level several times and not doing bonded projects. ”
The Court finds that Barber’s alleged statement, even if deemed admissible, cannot support the Trustee’s assertion. First, Barber’s statement expresses no opinion on what valuation Old Mateo had as a going concern in the fourth quarter of 2007 — Barber was expressing a possible future path for New Mateo, at which time Citizens would not even be involved. Moreover, there is no evidence that Barber claimed this was the only possible path forward for New Mateo, or that New Mat-eo’s current operations were unsustainable. Simply put, it severely strains credulity to infer that this single statement could mislead Citizens, a sophisticated financial institution and investor.
The Court also notes that the Trustee bases his valuation model on EBITDA, not gross revenue.
Finally, the record shows that Old Mat-eo’s books were entirely open to Citizens prior to the sale. There is no colorable evidence that the books, were altered or misleading. Because the Trustee has failed to present any evidence that the New Mat-eo Defendants misled Citizens, summary judgment must be granted on this claim.
D. There Is No Evidence The New Mateo Defendants “Knowingly” Aided Or Abetted An Unlawful Sale
In his brief opposing summary judgment, the Trustee relies heavily on a specific chain of logic in supporting these claims — the Trustee claims that (1) the ACAS Defendants had clear conflicts of interest in regards to the sale, (2) the New Mateo Defendants knew of these conflicts and therefore (3) by purchasing Old Mat-eo, the New Mateo Defendants aided and abetted the ACAS Defendants.
The Trustee has not presented any evidence that the New Mateo Defendants knew how the ACAS Defendants had behaved in the months leading up to October 2007. Second, the Trustee has presented no evidence the New Mateo Defendants knew how the ACAS Defendants had represented the financial condition of Old Mateo to Citizens. Third, the Trustee’s various arguments that the New Mateo Defendants “knowingly” aided and abetted the ACAS Defendants either lack evidence or do not rise to the “knowing” level required by law.
The Court finds itself quite frustrated by the Trustee’s arguments. His modus operandi is clear — seize one or two indisputable, but relatively innocuous facts, use those facts to make an enormous inferential leap without any other evidence to support that leap, and then assert that the New Mateo Defendants obviously “knew” and participated in the actions of the ACAS Defendants. Not once does the Trustee compare this case directly to precedent to demonstrate his leap is warranted or should be accepted for the purposes of
1. Agreeing to purchase Old Mateo at “liquidation value” does not demonstrate the .“knowing” requirement of aiding and abetting.
First, the Trustee claims that “by agreeing to purchase Old Mateo for a liquidation price that they knew was inappropriate for a profitable going concern, Old Mateo’s officers aided the ACAS Defendants’ breach.”
Second, the Trustee repeatedly references the fact that Old Mateo’s bank account, at that time, held approximately $2 million in cash.
Third, the Trustee continuously references the underlying fundamentals of Old Matco to support this conclusion.
Finally, there is no question that Old Mateo had been inches from complete collapse, until Barber unilaterally agreed, during negotiations leading up to the sale, to give a personal guarantee to CNA so that CNA would continue paying vendor and employee claims. The Trustee may be able to prove that it was entirely the fault of the ACAS Directors that Old Mat-eo had reached such a point. He may be able to prove this was a breach of their fiduciary duties. But there is literally no evidence that “if there was a fire, the ACAS Defendants started it with the New Mateo Defendants’ help.”
2. Bargaining directly with Citizens does not demonstrate the “knowing” requirement of aiding and abetting.
The Trustee further claims that “the New Mateo Defendants knew that the ACAS Defendants refused even to participate in the sale price negotiation because they did not care whether Old Mateo was sold for a fraction of its true value.”
Even if the Court could accept the Trustee’s inferential leap, the Trustee has still failed to meet the “knowing” requirement for his claims — he has failed to show actual or constructive knowledge by the New Mateo Defendants that the ACAS Defendants were breaching their fiduciary duties by abdicating the sale process to Citizens. Citizens, as the sole secured creditor, was the real party in interest on the selling side of Old Mateo. Barber was directed, by the Director Defendants, to negotiate with Citizens for this exact reason. Moreover, the Director Defendants did, late in the sale process, step back in and require additional terms from the New Mateo Defendants. Finally, Barber, Freije and Elliot were the managers of an electrical contractor, not investment bankers or financial consultants. If a private equity group had bought Old Mateo, it would be reasonable to say they had constructive knowledge the sale was tainted by the fact the ACAS Defendants barely participated. But there are no grounds for holding that the New Mateo Defendants had such constructive knowledge.
3. Knowing that the ACAS Defendants had violated New York Lien Law does not demonstrate the “knowing” requirement for aiding and abetting.
The Trustee also asserts that the New Mateo Defendants knew that the ACAS Directors had a conflict of interest and that this conflict motivated the sale process.
E. There Is No Evidence the New Mateo Defendants “Aided or Abetted” the Sweeping of Old Mateo’s Accounts.
The Trustee also claims in the months leading up to the Debtors’ bankruptcy, the ACAS Defendants violated their fiduciary duties by sweeping cash from Old Mateo’s accounts in violation of New York Lien Law.
First, the Court notes the Trustee may not have properly asserted this claim. While the Trustee devotes significant space in his brief in arguing for this claim to survive summary judgment,
The evidence clearly establishes that Barber, Freije and Elliott never exercised any measure of control over the finances of NewStarcom,
To overcome this deficit of evidence, the Trustee offers another theory: that by not going to the New York authorities — whomever that may be — and telling them that the ACAS Defendants were violating N.Y. Lien Law, the New Mateo Defendants aided and abetted the ACAS Defendants.
IV. The Trustee’s Motion for Reconsideration Will Be Denied
This Court previously dismissed four claims, brought by the Trustee, that alleged that the sale of Old Mateo to the New Mateo Defendants was an avoidable transfer under both Delaware law and the Bankruptcy Code.
The Court must deny the Motion for Reconsideration. First, a motion for reconsideration is an extraordinary means of relief, made more extraordinary by the Trustee’s three year delay in seeking relief. Second, the New Mateo Defendants have shown that they did not withhold any critical documents during the Trustee’s initial Rule 2004 discovery requests. Third, the Court finds no basis in fact for the Trustee’s claims that the Defendants misled the Trustee or the Court.
Instead, careful review of the record makes two facts clear. First, the Trustee
A. Standard for Reconsideration of an Interlocutory Order
The Trustee seeks reconsideration of this Court’s interlocutory order under Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b). The Court applies the standard applicable to a Rule 59(e) motion, but places a slightly lesser burden of persuasion on the movant.
B. What Transfer Is the Trustee Now Hoping to Avoid?
The structure of the Old Matco sale transaction is complex, but consisted of three major parts. First, Old Matco directly sold its assets to New Matco (the “Asset Sale”).
The Trustee now alleges that the Stock Transfer was a fraudulent transfer that is avoidable under the Bankruptcy Code.
C. In 2012, the Trustee Was Attempting to Avoid an Entirely Different Portion of the Old Mateo Sale Transaction.
The Court’s review of the transcript of the June 12, 2012 hearing and the Defendants’ briefings makes two facts clear: (1) in 2012, the Trustee only asserted fraudulent transfer claims based on the Asset Sale and (2) the Defendants and their attorneys committed no ethical breaches in arguing that the Court should dismiss those claims.
The Court agrees with the summary Ms. Shapiro made at the time — “[i]t’s completely clear from the complaint that what’s being alleged [by the Trustee] is
D. The Trustee Has Failed to Show Cause for Reconsideration
Even if the Court’s 2012 Order did dismiss the Trustee’s claim,
Further, the Court believes reconsideration would greatly prejudice the New Matco Defendants. The addition of the Trustee’s’ new fraudulent transfer claim would likely require discovery to be reopened, and a new party be named as an additional defendant. If the Trustee were successful on his claim, an entirely new, and complex, question of damages would arise; because Old Mateo was a shell entity that merely held contracts that could not be assigned to New Mateo, the parties would need to argue and brief a number of new questions of law, in particular how the proceeds of those contracts should be divided between Old Mateo — the contracting party — and New Mateo — the performing party. These new issues would, in turn, require even more discovery. Finally, adjudicating these questions would elongate this case — which is finally nearing its conclusion five years after being' filed — by an uncertain, but likely substantial, period of time. Because the Trustee’s delay was not the result of the New Mateo Defendants’ withholding of evidence, this prejudice is unacceptable and reconsideration is not warranted.
The Court will take judicial notice of the Debtors’ (“Schedules”) and statements of financial affairs (“SOFAs”). FRE 201(c)(2) states that the Court must take judicial notice of an adjudicative fact “if a party requests it and the court is supplied with the necessary information.” An adjudicative fact is not a “material fact,” but simply any fact “which relate[s] to the parties.”
However, the taking of judicial notice of the Debtors’ Schedules and SOFAs does not establish as fact any of the information or attestations within them. The Debtors’ Schedules and SOFAs state that Ron Barber was an officer of NSC Holdings, Inc. The Court is not taking judicial notice of that attestation’s truth or veracity; only that the Schedules and SOFAs attest to it. Mr. Barber did not sign the Schedules and SOFAs and their contents do not bind him. As fully explained in the Court’s holding on the New Mateo motion for summary judgment, this single piece of evidence is insufficient to create a triable issue of fact on whether Barber owed the fiduciary duties of a director to any of the Debtors.
VI. The ACAS Defendants’ Motion To Strike Will Be Granted, In Part, And Denied, In Part
The Court will grant, in part, and deny, in part, the ACAS Defendants’ Motion to Strike. Federal Rule of Evidence 704 was created to allow experts to testify in the clearest terms possible, even if those terms have specific legal meaning or “embrace an ultimate issue.” So long as an expert does not usurp the Court role in determining the law of the case, the intermittent use of legal terms is not grounds for excluding testimony.
First, because the “Executive Summary” section of the Brownstein Company’s Report presents “legal” conclusions without first creating any factual context for those conclusions, the Court holds that it should be stricken. Second, even though the “Analysis and Opinion” section of the Report overuses “legal” terminology, the Court finds that striking this section of the Report would be improper. Although striking might be warranted in a jury trial, the Court is sitting as trier-of-fact in this adversary proceeding, and is' fully capable of looking past the semantics of the Report and to its substance. Finally, because the remainder of the Report presents relevant, admissible testimony and analysis, does not attempt to explain Delaware Law or conduct legal analysis and grounds its “legal” conclusions in factual citation to the record, the Court will deny the Motion to Strike as to the remainder of the Report.
A. When May, and When Must, the Court Strike an Expert’s Testimony?
The decision to strike expert testimony is a delicate one and, like most evidentiary rulings, involves a balancing of competing goals. On the one hand, the Federal Rules of Evidence “embody a strong preference for admitting any evidence that may assist the trier of fact, and take a liberal policy of admissibility with
On the other hand, “the Federal Rules do not permit experts to testify as to legal conclusions.”
B. It Would Be an Inappropriate Exercise of Discretion to Strike the Expert Report in Full
The ACAS Defendants fail to show that the Court must or should strike the report in its entirety. The ACAS Defendants state that “conclusions of law dominate the entire report,”
The Court agrees with the Trustee that “intermittent legal gloss” is insufficient to strike the entirety of an expert’s report.
C. The Court’s Course of Action Moving Forward
The Court exercises its discretion like a scalpel, not a mallet, and therefore the motion to strike will be granted, in part, and denied, in part. The “Executive Summary” (p. 5-7) of the Report will be stricken completely; there is no doubt these pages are rife with improper “legal” conclusions and because these conclusions precede the Expert’s analysis and fact citations, striking them from the report does not reduce the Report’s value in assisting the Court as trier-of-fact.
With regard to the remaining portions of the report, the motion to strike is denied. The “Opinion & Analysis” section of the Report, while often stating legal conclusions, is a factual narrative and those “legal conclusions” are made solely in reference to the facts, as found by the expert. In term of substantive legal analysis, the Report does not go any further than differentiating between the duty of care and the duty of loyalty.
CONCLUSION
Summary Judgment will be entered in favor of the New Mateo Defendants on all claims asserted against them. The Trustee has failed to refine the broad claims of his complaint into specific claims based on the facts in evidence. To the extent he has, there is a lack of evidence on one or more necessary elements in each and every claim. The Trustee’s breach of fiduciary duty claims fail because they do not recognize the distinction between the fiduciary duties of the New Mateo Defendants and the duties of the ACAS Defendants. The Trustee’s aiding and abetting claims fail because the Trustee has pointed to no evidence sufficient to show at trial that the New Match Defendants “knowingly” aided and abetted the ACAS Defendants. Finally, the Trustee’s failure to acknowledge the factual context of his claims against the ACAS Defendants renders most of his inferences so implausible that they cannot be accepted by the Court, even at summary judgment, when all reasonable inferences must be drawn in his favor.
' The motion to take judicial notice will be granted. The Schedules and SOFAs of
The motion to strike will be granted, in part, and denied, in part. On the whole, the Brownstein Company’s Expert Report presents relevant, admissible evidence. The Report’s overuse of legal terms would be of substantial concern at a jury trial, but that concern is greatly lessened when the Court is sitting as the trier-of-fact. Because the ■ Report does not attempt to define Delaware law or perform legal analysis, there is no reason for it to be struck in full from this adversary proceeding.
The motion for reconsideration will be denied. The Court does not believe its 2012 Order dismissed the new claim asserted by the Trustee, and therefore reconsideration would not grant the relief the Trustee seeks. Even if the Trustee’s claim was dismissed, reconsideration is not warranted. The Trustee has failed to show new evidence warrants reconsideration and the interests of justice, far from requiring reconsideration, weigh heavily against. The Trustee’s failure to properly and timely assert this fraudulent transfer claim is entirely result of his own doing.
An order will be entered.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint, D.I. 43, pp. 18-27, ¶¶ 75-131.
. Trustee’s Motion to Supplement Brief, D.I. 192.
. Trustee’s Reconsideration Brief, D.I. 167.
. American Capital, Ltd (“ACAS”) held a majority equity stake in — and controlled — the Debtors prior to bankruptcy. Steven Price (“Price”), Gordon O’Brien (“O’Brien”), Mark Fikse ("Fiske”) and Craig Moore (“Moore”) are current or former employees of ACAS who served as directors at one or more of the Debtors prior to bankruptcy. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at pp. 3-4, ¶¶ 6-11.
. ACAS Motion to Strike Brief, D.I. 174.
. Mateo Electric Corporation (“New Mateo”) is an electrical contracting company founded and owned by Ronald Barber (“Barber"), Mark Freije (“Freije”) and Kenneth Elliott ("Elliot").
. New Matco MSJ Brief, D.I. 160.
. And, to the extent he does, he is clearly wrong in differentiating the two. See Trustee's MSJ Brief, D.I. 168 at pp. 31 and 43. A fiduciary violates the duty of loyalty when he engages in self-dealing or self-interested behavior at the expense of the entity he is meant to be serving. In contrast, a fiduciary violates the duty of care by performing his duties in a negligent or grossly negligent manner. The Trustee claims that the ACAS Defendants violated their fiduciary duties by (1) selling at liquidation value instead of going concern value and (2) abdicating an active role in the sale process to Citizens Bank (“Citizens1'). These are clearly claims based on a breach of the duty of care. A claim based solely on the insufficiency of the price received is, by definition, a duty of care claim. A claim based solely on the Director Defendants failure to engage in their “duty of oversight” is too, by definition, a duty of care claim. The fact that the price was clearly insufficient, or that the directors failed be involved in the sale process, may serve as evidence for a duty of loyalty claim — but these facts cannot form the basis for a duty of loyalty claim.
. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at p. 3, ¶ 6.
. Id.
. Id. at pp. 3-4, ¶¶ 8-11.
. Id. at p. 5, ¶ 17.
. Id.
. Id. at p. 5, ¶ 18. The Debtors and Old Matco, collectively, are referred to as "NewStarcom.”
. Id. at p.1, ¶ 1.
. Brownstein Company Export Report, D.I. 174, Ex. A at p. 8.
. New Matco MSJ Brief at pp. 6-7; Towery Affidavit at ¶¶ 5, 6, 14; Shapiro Declaration at Exs. C, V.
. New Matco MSJ Brief at pp. 6-7.
. Id.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at pp. 6-7, ¶¶ 22-25.
. New Matco MSJ Brief at p. 7.
. Id.
. Id. at p.9, ¶¶ 36-37.
. Id. at p. 9, ¶ 39.
. Id. at p. 10, ¶¶ 40-43.
. Id. at p. 8.
. Id.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at p. 11, ¶ 47.
. New Matco MSJ Brief at pp. 9-10.
. Id. at p. 9.
. Id. at pp. 10-11.
. Id. at p. 11 (citing Shapiro Declaration Exs. M, N, T).
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at pp. 12-15, ¶¶ 52-65. New Matco MSJ Brief at pp. 11-12.
. New Matco MSI Brief at p. 12.
. Id. at pp. 12-13.
. Id. at p. 13. The additional terms — as stated by New Matco in its brief — were (1) a promissory note to CNA for the $882,127.11 in vendor claims CNA paid during Old Matco's financial instability, (2) Barber’s personal guarantee of $990,600 on the three school jobs, (3) a $100,000 letter of credit in favor of CNA, (4) Barber’s personal agreement to provide $1,000,000 in indemnity to CNA for New Mateo’s bonded jobs, (5) assumption of liability for the $25 million of in-progress Old Mat-eo projects, (6) a promise to retain all current employees for at least 60 days to comply with the WARN Act, 29 USC § 2102(a) and (6) the 50/50 cost-sharing split with ACAS on a letter of credit.
. Id.
. Id. at pp. 13-14; Shapiro Declaration Exs. P, T, U, V, W.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint.
. D.I. 49-52.
. Dismissal Hearing, D.I. 204.
. D.I. 71.
. In re NewStarcom Holdings, Inc., 514 B.R. 394, 404 (Bankr.D.Del. 2014).
. 11-56 MOORE'S FEDERAL PRACTICE, § 56.02 (Matthew Bender 3d ed.).
. Celotex Corp., supra.
. Mesnick v. General Electric Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir. 1991).
. Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 323-325, 106 S.Ct. 2548.
. See Leonard v. General Motors Corp. (In re Headquarters Dodge), 13 F.3d 674, 679 (3d Cir. 1993); Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
. See Mesnick, 950 F.2d at 822 (" 'genuine' means that the evidence about the fact is such that a reasonable jury could resolve the point in favor of the nonmoving party [and] 'material' means that the fact is one that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law”). See also Leonard, 13 F.3d at 679; Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348.
. Mack v. Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co., 871 F.2d 179, 181 (1st Cir. 1989); See also Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).
. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505. See also In re CVEO Corp., 327 B.R. 210, 213 (Bankr.D.Del. 2005).
. See, e.g., Big Apple BMW, Inc. v. BMW of N. Am., Inc., 974 F.2d 1358, 1363 (3d Cir. 1992).
. Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586, 106 S.Ct 1348.
. In re Broadstripe, LLC, 444 B.R. 51, 76 (Bankr.D.Del. 2010) (citing Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548).
. Beard Research, Inc. v. Kates, 8 A.3d 573, 601 (Del.Ch.), aff'd sub nom., ASDI, Inc. v. Beard Research, Inc., 11 A.3d 749 (Del. 2010).
. In re Orchard Enterprises, Inc. Stockholder Litig., 88 A.3d 1, 32-33 (Del.Ch. 2014) (internal citations omitted).
. In re Walt Disney Co. Deriv. Litig., 907 A.2d 693, 749 (Del.Ch. 2005). See also Graham v. Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co., 41 Del.Ch. 78, 84, 188 A.2d 125, 130 (1963).
. In re Walt Disney, 907 A.2d at 749.
. Id. at 751.
. In re Orchard, 88 A.3d at 32-33 (quoting Stone ex rel. AmSouth Bancorporation v. Ritter, 911 A.2d 362, 370 (Del. 2006)).
. See Gantler v. Stephens, 965 A.2d 695, 708-709 (2009).
. See In re Ultimate Escapes Holdings, LLC, 2014 WL 5861765, at *6, 2014 Bankr.LEXIS 4712, at *17 (Bankr.D.Del. Nov. 12, 2014); Miller v. McDonald (In re World Health Alternatives, Inc.), 385 B.R. 576, 591-593 (Bankr.D.Del. 2008).
. Virtus Capital L.P. v. Eastman Chem. Co., 2015 WL 580553, at *17 (Del.Ch. Feb. 11, 2015) (internal citations omitted).
. Trenwick Am. Litig. Trust v. Ernst & Young, L.L.P., 906 A.2d 168, 201 (Del.Ch. 2006) (emphasis added); See also Anadarko Petroleum Corp. v. Panhandle E. Corp., 545 A.2d 1171, 1174 (Del. 1988) (stating that "in a parent and wholly-owned subsidiary context, the directors of the subsidiary are obligated only to manage the affairs of the subsidiary in the best interests of the parent and its shareholders”).
. Paramount Commc’ns Inc. v. QVC Network Inc., 637 A.2d 34, 46 (Del. 1994) (further stating that this duty is triggered when a corporation initiates an active bidding process or “seeks an alternative transaction involving the breakup of the company”).
. 8 Del. C. § 271; In re Bally’s Grand Derivative Litig., 1997 WL 305803, at *4-5, 1997 Del.Ch. Lexis 77, at *12-15 (Del.Ch. June, 4 1997).
. See In re Gen. Motors Class H Shareholders Litig., 734 A.2d 611, 616 (Del.Ch. 1999) (“Because the shareholders were afforded the opportunity to decide for themselves on accurate disclosures and in a non-coercive atmosphere, the business judgment rule applies, and the plaintiffs must, to avoid dismissal, plead that the Hughes Transactions were wasteful”); See also Marciano v. Nakash, 535 A.2d 400, 405 n. 3 (Del. 1987) ("approval by fully informed ... disinterested stockholders ... permits invocation of the business judgment rule and limits judicial review to issues of gift or waste with the burden of proof upon the party attacking the transaction”).
. Potter v. Pohlad, 560 N.W.2d 389, 394 (Minn.Ct.App. 1997) (applying Delaware law). See also Science Accessories Corp. v. Summagraphics Corp., 425 A.2d 957, 962 (Del. 1980) (an agent has the "duty to disclose information that is relevant to the affairs of the agency entrusted to him”); cf. Mills Acquisition Co. v. Macmillan, Inc., 559 A.2d 1261, 1280 (Del. 1989) (corporate directors have duty to disclose "all material information” when seeking shareholder approval).
. In re Wayport, Inc. Litig., 76 A.3d 296, 314 (Del.Ch. 2013) (stating that when there is a conflict of interest, directors and officers have a duty "to disclose all facts that are material to the stockholders’ consideration of the transaction and that are or can reasonably be obtained through their position as directors”).
. In re Del Monte Foods Co. Shareholders Litig., 25 A.3d 813, 831 (Del.Ch. 2011).
. Ronald A. Brown, Jr., Claims of Aiding and Abetting A Director’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty-Does Everybody Who Deals with A Delaware Director Owe Fiduciary Duties to That Director's Shareholders?, 15 Del. J. Corp. L. 943, 947 (1990) (quoting Gilbert v. El Paso Co., 490 A.2d 1050, 1057 (Del.Ch. 1984), aff'd, 575 A.2d 1131 (Del. 1990)).
. Malpiede v. Townson, 780 A.2d 1075, 1096 (Del. 2001).
. RBC Capital Markets, LLC v. Jervis, 129 A.3d 816, 862-63, 2015 WL 7721882, at *33 (Del. 2015).
. Malpiede at 1097-98.
. Id.
. In re Rural Metro Corp., 88 A.3d 54, 97 (Del.Ch.), decision clarified on denial of rear-gument sub nom., In re Rural Metro Corp. Stockholders Litig., 2014 WL 1094173 (Del.Ch. Mar. 19, 2014), and, appeal dismissed sub nom., In re Rural Metro Corp. Shareholders Litig., 105 A.3d 990 (Del. 2014); see also Goodwin v. Live Entm’t, Inc., 1999 WL 64265, at *28 (Del.Ch. Jan. 25, 1999), aff'd, 741 A.2d 16 (Del. 1999).
. New Matco MSJ Brief at p. 25.
. See Caplin v. Marine Midland Grace Trust Co. of New York, 406 U.S. 416, 428-435, 92 S.Ct. 1678, 32 L.Ed.2d 195 (1972) (stating that the Trustee "does not have standing to sue an indenture trustee on behalf of debenture holders); Marion v. TDI Inc., 591 F.3d 137, 148 n. 15 (3d Cir. 2010). This is not to say that the Trustee has no recourse if the Debtors were harmed when the New Mateo Defendants breached their duties to a non-debtor. C.f. Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors v. R.F. Lafferty & Co., 267 F.3d 340, 348-58 (3d Cir. 2001) (finding that the Debtors had suffered a cognizable injury under PA law when the defendants "wrongfully expanded] the Debtors' debt out of all proportion of their ability to pay and therefore was not asserting claims on behalf of creditors) (disapproved of by Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of Allegheny Health Educ. & Research Found. v. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP, 605 Pa. 269, 989 A.2d 313 (2010)). Such a claim, however, would need to be brought under applicable state law. Because the Trustee only brings claims based on fiduciary duties owed to the Debtors, the Court may not consider other state law claims that might provide redress.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at p. 22, ¶ 94(a-b).
. New Matco MSJ Brief at p. 23, n. 4.
.The Court has reviewed the Trustee’s MSJ Brief several times and is not exaggerating. The brief contains zero (0) mentions of this claim or of the agreement by New Matco to share exposure on ACAS’s letter of credit with CNA. See Trustee’s MSJ Brief pp. 1-49.
. Trustee’s MSJ Brief at p. 35.
. Id. at p. 40.
. Guth v. Loft, Inc., 5 A.2d 503, 510 (Del. 1939).
. The record is clear that Barber, Freije and Elliot did not have non-competes in their contract. The Court is not certain whether it would be a breach of fiduciary duty if they had used a threat to leave during negotiations to buy Old Mateo. That question, however, is irrelevant; there is no evidence they actually threatened to leave and thereby coerced a lower price from Citizens. The record only shows that Citizens was aware of the lack of non-compete clauses in their contracts and, therefore, any other buyer would likely refuse to purchase Old Mateo unless it was sure that the managers would stay.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at pp. 19-20, ¶¶ 87.
. Id. at p. 22, ¶¶ 97-99.
. New Matco MSJ Brief at p. 9, ¶ 39.
. Id. at p. 9, ¶¶3 6-37
. The Court makes no specific finding of fact on this claim, other than that such a claim is sufficient to withstand dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6).
. Specifically "(b) [cjhoosing to shut down Old Mateo ... (h) [flailing to consider the offer for Constar and choosing instead to shut down ... and (i)[a]bruptly closing Constar and Port City without having first made any attempt to responsibly wind down operations ...” Trustee’s Amended Complaint at p. 20, ¶ 87. Each of these claims involves an alleged breach of the duty of care, and in each claim, the decisions and actions that the Trustee alleges were a breach of fiduciary duty were made by the ACAS Defendants before the New Mateo Defendants were even informed of NewStarcom's financial troubles.
.Specifically, "(a) [flailing to market Old Mateo for sale,” (d) abdicating their responsibility to play a meaningful role in the determination of the sale price for Old Mateo ...”
.Specifically, “(c) [s]elling Old Mateo to insiders ... with first ascertaining the fair market value of the company ... (f) [sjelling Old Mateo quickly to insiders ... not because it was in the best interests of creditors, but because ACAS ... cared only to minimize its exposure ... (g) [cjutting a side deal to minimize ACAS’s exposure under the Letter of Credit ... and (j) [e]xposing the Debtors to potential liability in connection with the WARN Act claims.” Id.
. See n. 78, supra.
. New Matco MSI Brief at pp. 12-13.
. The Trustee has introduced no evidence that New Mateo violated the terms of the agreement and made layoffs that would create WARN Act liability for the Debtors.
. Because NewStarcom was insolvent at the time of the sale, an orderly liquidation would have resulted in no recovery by ACAS. New Mateo’s agreement to share the risk on a letter of credit issued by ACAS to CNA, however, provided no benefit to Citizens or unsecured creditors and instead solely benefited ACAS.
. E.g., Trustee's MSJ Brief at p. 35 (stating "if they [the New Matco Defendants] had been forthright, the Bank would not have
. In re NewStarcom Holdings, 514 B.R. at 404.
. Trustee’s MSI Brief at p. 35 (emphasis added).
. Countryside Oil Co. v. Travelers Ins. Co., 928 F.Supp. 474, 482 (D.N.J. 1995) ("It is well settled that only evidence which is admissible at trial may be considered in ruling on a motion for summary judgment”); see also Pamintuan v. Nanticoke Mem'l Hosp., 192 F.3d 378, 387 (3d Cir. 1999); Petruzzi’s IGA Supermarkets, Inc. v. Darling-Delaware Co., 998 F.2d 1224, 1235, n. 9 (3d Cir. 1993) (hearsay may be considered on a motion for summary judgment if it is capable of being admissible at trial). It is not the Court’s job to, sua sponte, determine if a hearsay exception applies. Because the Trustee has failed to show that this hearsay testimony falls within an exception, it is not admissible.
. Trustee’s MSI Brief at p. 35 (emphasis added).
. Id. at pp. 1-9.
. It would be a strange use of the English language to say that Barber "misled” Citizens into accepting $2 million for Old Mateo by telling Citizens that Old Mateo was worth $6 million.
. Trustee's MSJ Brief at p. 4.
. Id. at pp. 31-34, 41-42, 43-46 (three separate arguments based on this logic).
.Even if the New Mateo Defendants knew that the ACAS Defendants had a conflict of interest regarding the sale of Old Mateo, that knowledge — alone—does not mean the New Mateo Defendant "knowingly” aided or abetted a breach of fiduciary duty. In fact, the New Mateo Defendants could easily have reasoned that these conflicts of interest are why the ACAS Defendants left sale negotiations to Citizens, the conflict-less, true party-in-interest.
. Trustee MSJ Brief at p. 33.
. Id. at p. 34.
. By virtue of its right to subrogation if Old Mateo failed to perform.
. Id. at p. 34, n. 27.
. In re NewStarcom Holdings, 514 B.R. at 404.
. Id.
.The Trustee may be arguing that the New Mateo Defendants "helped” by virtue of not blowing the whistle when the ACAS Defendants upstreamed cash in violation of New York Lien Law. This totally ignores the fact that the ACAS Defendants’ upstreaming was not the cause of Old Mateo’s liquidity crisis— it was Citizen’s collection of effectively all of Old Mateo's cash that caused the liquidity crisis. New Matco MSJ Brief at pp. 9-10.
. Id.
. See Trustee’s MSJ Brief at p. 44.
. Id. at p. 42.
. Id. at p. 9 (citing N.Y. Lien Law §§ 70-72, 79 (McKinney)).
. Id. at p. 37.
. The Court notes that this claim — that the sweeping of Old Matco's accounts was a breach of fiduciary duty — is not mentioned in the Trustee’s Amended Complaint. See id. at p. 20. Because the Court finds that summary judgment should be granted, the Court does not reach the procedural question of whether this claim is improperly asserted or should be deemed waived.
. Id. at pp. 36-39.
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at p. 20. The Trustee neither asserted a direct breach of fiduciary duty against the ACAS Defendants for violating New York Lien Law, nor an aiding and abetting claim against the New Mateo Defendants.
. New Matco MSI Brief at pp. 6-7; Towery Affidavit at ¶¶ 5, 6, 14; Shapiro Declaration at Exs. C, V.
. Id.
. The Trustee states that the New Matco Defendants "consented to operating Old Matco in this illegal fashion.” Trustee’s MSI Brief at p. 39, n. 36. "Consent” requires that the consenting party have the ability to say no. In this context, NewStarcom’s complete control over Old Mateo’s finances removed the Defendants' ability to consent long before New York law was violated.
. The Trustee’s interpretation of Trenwick is correct; Trenwick does not authorize the "fiduciaries of a subsidiary to comply with an illegal strategy of its parent ...” Trustee’s Amended Brief at p. 38. Nonetheless, this discussion misses the mark — Trenwick applies
. See Trustee’s Amended Brief at p. 39, n. 36 (stating that the New Mateo Defendants "facilitated the illegal sweep by remaining quiet, failing to maintain the requisite books and records, and by refusing to avail themselves of ... legal mechanisms”). The Trustee offers no evidence to support his assertion that the New Matco Defendants failed to maintain their books and records.
. Most clearly, the Trustee's use of numerous terms other than “aiding and abetting.” E.g. "facilitate” (pp. 37, 39), "consent” (p. 39).
. Trustee’s Amended Complaint at pp. 23-26, ¶¶ 101-126.
. Trustee’s Reconsideration Brief, D.I.167, pp. 1-2.
. Trustee’s Reconsideration Reply Brief, D.I. 189, pp. 1-5.
. Id.
. See Calyon New York Branch v. Am. Home Mortgage Corp., 383 B.R. 585 (Bankr.D.Del. 2008).
. Id. at 589 (quoting HHCA Texas Health Servs., L.P. v. LHS Holdings, Inc. (In re Home Health Corp. of Amer., Inc.), 268 B.R. 74, 76 (Bankr.D.Del. 2001)).
. Id. (quoting North River Ins. Co. v. CIGNA Reinsurance Co., 52 F.3d 1194, 1218 (3d Cir. 1995)).
. Id. (quoting Key Mechanical Inc. v. BDC 56 LLC (In re BDC 56 LLC), 330 F.3d 111, 123 (2d Cir. 2003)).
. See Standard Quimica De Venezuela v. Cent. Hispano Int'l, Inc., 189 F.R.D. 202, 205 (D.P.R. 1999); In re Diet Drugs Prod. Liab. Litig., 383 Fed.Appx. 242, 246 (3d Cir. 2010).
. Trustee’s Reconsideration Brief at pp. 5-6. The Court’s use of the term “first” is not meant to indicate first in time, but merely to sequence the Court's summary.
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at pp. 1-3.
. Id.
. See 11 U.S.C. § 546(a).
. The Mateo Defendants were always precise in their statements. E.g., “Because the asset sale by Old Mateo did not involve the transfer of any assets of a debtor...” "None of these sales [referring to the Asset Sale] involved the transfer of any assets by a debt- or. .." Trustee’s Reconsideration Brief at p. 4 (quoting ACAS Motion to Dismiss Brief, D.I. 50, at pp. 19, 10, respectively (emphasis added)).
. "The Code doesn’t say that the Debtor must transfer property. It is a transfer of property in which the Debtor has an interest. And it can be a transfer by a third party ...” Dismissal Hearing at p. 37, Ins. 11-14 (arguing that the Trustee could avoid the sale of Old Mateo’s assets).
. ”[T]he only one who can pursue the claims on behalf of old Mateo, since it has been dissolved, is the shareholder that happens to be the Debtor ...” Dismissal Hearing at p. 34, Ins. 17-20 (again arguing that the Asset Sale could be avoided by the Trustee).
. Id. at p. 38, Ins. 4-10.
. Id. at pp. 55-56, Ins. 18-25, 1-8 (which specifically requires the transfer of an interest of the debtor in property).
. Id. at pp. 58-59.
. Id. at pp. 1-64.
. Id. at pp. 29, Ins. 20-22.
. Id. at p. 29, Ins. 1-20.
. Id. at p. 55, Ins. 5-7.
. Adv. No. 10-50063, D.I. 71.
. New Matco Reconsideration Brief D.I. 178 at pp. 12-13 (showing that New Matco's 2009 production included (1) the NSC resolution approving the stock transfer, (2) the Letter of Intent, which detailed the stock transfer and (3) the Stock Purchase agreement).
. See Frito-Lay of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Canos, 92 F.R.D. 384, 391 (D.P.R. 1981); Rockland Exposition, Inc. v. Alliance of Auto. Serv. Providers, 894 F.Supp.2d 288, 339 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).
. Trustee’s Reconsideration Reply Brief at pp. 5-8.
. Commentary to F.R.E. 201.
. Id.
. In re DVL Inc. Sec. Litig., 2010 WL 3522090, at *8 (E.D.Pa. Sept. 3, 2010) (quoting Pineda v. Ford Motor Co., 520 F.3d 237, 243 (3d Cir. 2008) (internal quotations omitted)).
. Cf. Hanson Trust PLC v. ML SCM Acquisition, Inc., 781 F.2d 264, 280-81 (2d Cir. 1986).
. See In re Heckmann Corp. Sec. Litig., 2013 WL 2456104, at *7 (D.Del. June 6, 2013); Konstantopoulos v. Westvaco Corp., 112 F.3d 710, 719 (3d Cir. 1997).
. Berckeley Inv. Gr. Ltd. v. Colkitt, 455 F.3d 195, 217 (3d Cir. 2006).
. Cantor v. Perelman, 2006 WL 3462596, at *3 (D.Del. Nov. 30, 2006) (quoting Berckeley Inv. Gr., 455 F.3d at 217).
. Penn Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Norma Espinosa 2007-1 Ins. Trust, 70 F.Supp.3d 628, 635-36 (D.Del. 2014).
. ACAS Motion to Strike Brief, D.I.174, p. 6.
. Id. at p. 13 (quoting In re Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation, 2004 WL 550750, at *1 (Del.Ch. Mar. 9, 2004)).
. Trustee’s Motion to Strike Reply, D.I.177, p. 6.
. Id. at p. 7.
. Id. at p. 8 (citing Cantor v. Perelman, 2006 WL 3462596 at *5).
. Id. at p. 8 (citing Cantor v. Perelman, 2006 WL 3462596 at *3).
. Window Specialists, Inc. v. Forney Enterprises, Inc., 47 F.Supp.3d 53, 60 (D.D.C. 2014).
. Nodoushani v. S. Conn. State Univ., 507 Fed.Appx. 79, 80 (2nd Cir. 2013).
. In regards to the Report opining on New York Lien Law, the Court finds no significant issue. It is effectively undisputed that in the months leading up to the sale of Old Mateo, New York Lien Law was continuously violated — at certain points Old Mateo had a negative balance in its bank accounts, but had ongoing trust fund liabilities to subcontractors and vendors. F.R.E. 704 was designed to end the days when experts were required to use "odd verbal circumlocutions” in order to state a clear fact in non-legal terms.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IN RE: NEWSTARCOM HOLDINGS, INC., Debtors. George L. Miller, as Chapter 7 Trustee Of the Estates of NewStarcom Holdings, Inc. v. American Capital, Ltd., Steven Price, Gordon O'Brien, Mark Fikse, Craig Moore, Matco Electric Corp. f/k/a Matco Associates Inc., Ronald Barber, Mark Freiji, and Kenneth Elliott
- Cited By
- 15 cases
- Status
- Published