Segway Inc. is suing the executive who was leading the company at the time it stopped production of its original two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transportation device. This week in the Delaware Court of Chancery kicks off with former Segway President Judy Cai’s attempt to have that lawsuit dismissed.
More from the court’s calendar:
Monday: Segway Inc. v. Cai, Del. Ch., No. 2022-1110, hearing 9/25/23.
At issue: Cai served as Segway’s president from 2018 through late 2020, after a stint as interim president that began with Ninebot’s acquisition of the company in 2015. Segway’s complaint alleges Cai failed to address or concealed “issues with the company’s customers which led to increasing levels of” money owed to Segway but not collected. “Contrary to what Ninebot was told, Segway had in excess of $5 million in accounts receivable which were not properly recorded and/or booked,” the complaint says. Cai responded in a brief that Segway’s claims “fail to demonstrate negligence, let alone gross negligence, necessary to support a claim for breach of fiduciary duty.”
Noteworthy: Production of the Segway PT, an electric scooter that gained pop culture notoriety but in the real world saw limited use by police departments and tour operators, ceased in 2020. Cai also is suing Segway, for legal fees in Chancery Court. Both parties have asked Vice Chancellor Lori Will to resolve that case without a trial.
Court action: Hearing on Cai’s motion to dismiss in Wilmington, Del.
Tuesday: In Re ADM Tech. Res. Inc., Del. Ch., No. 2023-0392, hearing 9/26/23.
At issue: Kazakhstan’s third largest bank opened a new legal front earlier this year in its wide-ranging effort to recover billions allegedly looted by an oligarch who fled the country. BTA Bank has accused a group of major commodities traders—including affiliates of agricultural giant
Court action: Hearing on motion to dismiss in Dover, Del.
Bank Seeking Stolen Billions Looks to Hold ADM Unit Accountable
Tuesday: Beauchemin v. Engel, Del. Ch., No. 2023-0921, oral argument 9/26/23.
At issue: A lawsuit filed in early September accuses Sculptor Capital Management Inc. executives of engineering a proposed $639 million acquisition of the fund by rival Rithm Capital Corp. in a way that prevents stockholders from considering a higher bid. Sculptor founder Dan Och and other former executives oppose the Rithm deal, and another shareholder sued in federal court in Manhattan, saying the deal wasn’t fair to investors.
Court action: Phone hearing on motion to expedite.
Sculptor Board Sued for Favoring Rithm’s $639 Million Buyout Bid
Tuesday: In Re Anaplan Inc. S’holder Litig., Del. Ch., No. 2022-1073, hearing 9/26/23.
At issue: Investors sued senior leaders of Anaplan Inc. last year, challenging the software company’s $10.4 billion sale to Thoma Bravo LP. The lawsuit accuses ex-CEO Frank Calderoni and other top executives of giving Thoma Bravo a pretext to lower the price by awarding themselves multi-million-dollar bonuses between signing and closing. The executives have said in a brief that the investors haven’t shown any facts “from which it is reasonably conceivable that defendants acted with gross negligence—i.e., recklessness.”
Court action: Hearing on motion to dismiss in Wilmington, Del.
Thoma Bravo’s $10 Billion Anaplan Deal Draws Hedge Fund Lawsuit
Wednesday: VT S’holder Rep LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Del. Ch., No. 2023-0316, hearing 9/27/23.
At issue: Edwards Lifesciences Corp. faces claims that it’s on the hook for $300 million after acquiring a smaller biotech company in order to shelve that firm’s flagship heart valve repair device while developing a competing product. The merger agreement required Edwards to make commercially reasonable efforts to bring Valtech Cardio Ltd.'s “Cardioband” system to the US market. However, the complaint alleges Edwards devoted more resources to its own system, whose existence it attempted to conceal. Edwards said in a brief that it still had time under a 10-year deadline in the merger agreement to achieve its regulatory targets and trigger milestone payments.
Court action: Hearing on motion to dismiss in Wilmington, Del.
Edwards Lifesciences Sued Over $300 Million Tied to Heart Device
Thursday: Anchorage Police & Fire Ret. Sys. v. Focus Fin. Partners Inc., Del. Ch., No. 2023-0711, trial 9/28/23.
At issue: Three pension funds and an investment trust sued Focus Financial Partners Inc. in July seeking internal files to investigate concerns the company’s planned $7 billion sale to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC may have been designed to favor private equity insiders and the Focus board. Focus says it has produced thousands of pages of documents already, and in a pre-trial brief the company complained that the plaintiffs in the consolidated litigation are playing “whack-a-mole: for every document request that Focus satisfies, another two emerge.” The plaintiffs say Focus has limited inspection to documents provided to a board committee, according to their pre-trial brief.
Court action: Trial before Magistrate in Chancery Selena Molina in Wilmington, Del.
Focus Financial’s $7 Billion Sale Hit With Pension Fund Lawsuits
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