This Week in Chancery Court: Atlas Energy Solutions, Masimo (1)

Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. will hear this week whether the Delaware Chancery Court will allow an investor to advance claims that its founder and directors shortchanged public stockholders when they reorganized the company.

Here’s a look at what’s on the calendars for the Chancery Court and Delaware Supreme Court:

Tuesday: Ayers v. Brigham, Del. Ch., No. 2024-0694, ruling 6/17/25.

At issue: Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster will deliver his ruling on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit stemming from Atlas’s reorganization from an Up-C into a traditional corporation shortly after its 2023 initial public offering. Atlas argued that its Class A shareholders held the same economic stake before and after the restructuring. An investor said the transaction was approved by a special board committee whose members’ have strong personal and professional ties to Atlas’s controlling stockholder, Texas oil tycoon Ben “Bud” Brigham.

Court action: Laster will deliver his ruling via teleconference.

Atlas Energy Solutions Defends Restructuring After Its IPO (1)

Tuesday: Masimo Corp. v. Kiani, Del. Ch., No. 2024-1086, hearing 6/17/25.

At issue: Masimo Corp. has moved to disqualify a law firm representing its ousted founder, Joe Kiani, Hueston Hennigan LLP, which previously represented both Masimo and Kiani in Chancery Court in prior litigation involving Politan Capital Management. Kiani also seeks to disqualify Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP from representing the medical equipment company in a pending Chancery Court lawsuit. Quinn Emanuel previously represented Kiani in the previous litigation, and now it’s “switching sides in a substantially related matter,” Kiani said in a brief. Kiani left Masimo in September after shareholders voted in Politan’s two nominees to its board. The proxy battle has spawned parallel litigation in Delaware, New York, and California.

Court action: The hearing before Vice Chancellor Nathan A. Cook will take place in Wilmington, Del.

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Tuesday: Hillblom v. Wilmington Trust Co., Del. Ch., No. 2021-1034, hearing 6/17/25.

At issue: A trustee appointed to manage the inheritance for a son of DHL Worldwide Express founder Larry Hillblom seeks to disqualify an attorney from representing the son at an upcoming trial. The son sued Wilmington Trust Co. in 2021, alleging the trustee cost him $1.1 million by mishandling his inheritance. The trustee cites the role of David Ribakoff of Los Angeles-based Ribakoff Law Firm in the case’s underlying fee dispute, saying in a brief that since the attorney’s “testimony will be necessary at trial, he should not be permitted to play the dual-role of trial counsel and fact witness.” Wells Lory Hillblom says in an answering brief that “Ribakoff is not on trial in this case, and WTC’s efforts to paint Ribakoff as a necessary witness so that it may badger him about how he handled the underlying arbitration proceedings is irrelevant to the claims here.”

Court action: Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn will conduct the hearing via teleconference.

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Tuesday: McKnight v. Alliance Ent. Holding Corp., Del. Ch., No. 2023-0383, settlement hearing 6/17/25.

At issue: Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will considers a $511,000 cash settlement to resolve an ex-shareholder’s lawsuit alleging sponsors of Alliance Entertainment Holding Corp.'s blank-check merger duped investors into approving the transaction. The accord would compensate investors for losing the “right to make a fully informed decision about whether to redeem their shares” of Adara Acquisition Corp. or to invest in Alliance by holding their Adara shares, according to a brief. The shareholder’s attorneys seek roughly $107,000 for fees and expenses.

Court action: A settlement hearing will be held in Wilmington, Del.

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Wednesday: Seafarers Pension Plan v. Moynihan, Del., No. 468,2024, oral arguments 6/18/25.

At issue: A pension fund seeks to reverse a Chancery Court ruling that tossed their lawsuit alleging Bank of America Corp.‘s senior leaders reacted to a surge in fraud reports involving unemployment benefits disbursed through prepaid debit cards with a faulty automated program that made it “nearly impossible for legitimate card holders to access unemployment funds,” according to a brief.

Court action: The Delaware Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Dover, Del.

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Wednesday: Jacobs v. Akademos, Inc., Del., No. 499,2024, oral arguments 6/18/25.

At issue: Akademos Inc.'s founder, Brian Jacobs, has appealed a Chancery Court post-trial ruling that dismissed his challenge to Kohlberg Ventures LLC’s buyout of the education technology business. Kohlberg argues in a brief that Jacobs’s appeal “has no prospect of changing the practical outcome of the Court of Chancery’s decision,” which was that the value of his stock “was zero” and he wasn’t entitled to any damages.

Court action: The Delaware Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Dover, Del.

Kohlberg Ventures Defeats Founder Lawsuit Over Edtech Buyout