Category: Corporate law

7 Keys to Selecting the Best Corporate Intelligence Firm

When you need to conduct a corporate investigation or gather intelligence in order to make a strategic business decision, you need to know that you are relying on complete and accurate information. There is no tolerance for uncertainty, and there is no room for error. If the information gathered is anything less than comprehensive, you will not have the insights you need; and, while you could get lucky, what was supposed to be an informed decision could end up doing more harm than good.

With this in mind, when you need to make an informed decision on a matter with significant business implications, you need to rely on the advice of experienced investigators and advisors. In short, your choice of corporate intelligence firms matters. So, how do you choose? Here are seven key factors to consider:

1. Professional Background and Corporate Intelligence Experience

While you are choosing a corporate intelligence firm, it is ultimately the people you choose that matter most. It is the firm’s personnel who will be investigating, gathering intelligence, and providing advice, so you need to know that these individuals have the background and experience required in order to assist your company effectively.

In most cases, companies will benefit greatly from choosing a corporate intelligence firm that employs former federal investigative agents—and ideally former federal investigative agents who spent decades in civil service. This includes not only former agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but former agents with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and subject matter-specific agencies and departments such as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Working within these agencies in an investigative capacity offers extensive training and high-level experience, and this experience will often translate directly to the corporate intelligence sector.

Of course, there are differences between conducting a government investigation and proactively gathering corporate intelligence, so experience in the private sector is an important consideration as well. When choosing a corporate intelligence firm, you should feel free to inquire about the public and private experience of each of the individuals who will be assisting your company. There are plenty of corporate intelligence firms out there—some of which offer far more experience than others—and you should look until you find a firm with personnel who you believe have the knowledge and capabilities required to meet your company’s needs.

2. Experience in Your Company’s Specific Area of Need

In addition to general investigative and intelligence-gathering experience, it is also important to choose a firm with personnel who have experience in your company’s specific area of need. For example, conducting a routine compliance audit is a very different matter from investigating an employee’s allegations of harassment or discrimination. Likewise, investigating a possible data security breach is wholly unlike conducting an internal investigation in response to a federal target letter, civil investigative demand (CID), or subpoena.

Different investigative and intelligence-gathering needs call for different procedures, the implementation of different policies, and the utilization of different skill sets. As a result, when looking for a corporate intelligence firm, it is important to focus not only on experience in general, but experience in similar and related scenarios as well.

3. State-of-the-Art Technological Resources

In today’s world, the extraordinary amount of data that companies generate and utilize on a day-to-day basis adds a layer of complexity to corporate investigations that did not exist 20 years ago. When gathering data, it is necessary to rely on state-of-the-art technological resources that ensure both (i) comprehensive data gathering, and (ii) industry-standard (or better) data security. If any data or (any data resources) get overlooked, then not only could the investigation fail to provide necessary intelligence, but it could also potentially expose the company to greater risk as the result of failing to uncover a possible litigation threat or defense strategy.

A corporate intelligence firm should be able to quickly and seamlessly connect its technological resources with your company’s IT platform, and its personnel should be able to work with the senior members of your company’s IT department to quickly implement a systematic and effective data collection plan. Your company’s corporate intelligence firm should be able to work directly with your company’s IT, data storage, and data security vendors as well—all while maintaining strict confidentiality and absolutely preserving the integrity of your company’s sensitive and proprietary data.

4. Nationwide Capabilities

In many cases, it is difficult to tell exactly where a corporate investigation will lead. While some intelligence-gathering efforts (i.e. compliance audits) will remain entirely internal affairs, investigations spurred by government inquiries, third-party allegations, and possible data security breaches can lead to additional investigative needs and the potential for litigation across the country (if not around the world). As a result, when choosing a corporate intelligence firm, it is important to choose a firm that has nationwide capabilities. It should have sufficient personnel and technological resources to follow your company’s investigation wherever it may lead, and it should have a track record of efficiently handling corporate investigations on a nationwide scale.

Additionally, COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that many companies do business. In some cases, these changes are likely to be permanent. In particular, the substantially increased prevalence of remote working and service delivery are likely here to stay. Not only does this mean that there will be additional challenges during the corporate investigative process, but it means that data (and paper files) will be spread across a much broader geographic area as well. This makes it imperative to choose a corporate intelligence firm with the capabilities required to quickly and effectively gather data, conduct interviews, and undertake other necessary investigative measures wherever it may be necessary to do so.

5. Preservation of the Attorney-Client Privilege

When preparing for a corporate investigation, it is important not to overlook the critical importance of preserving the attorney-client privilege. Without establishing the attorney-client privilege and ensuring that it covers the entirety of the investigation, any and all information uncovered through the investigative process could potentially become subject to disclosure during a government investigation or through discovery in civil litigation.

“When conducting a corporate investigation, it is imperative to preserve the attorney-client privilege. If your corporate intelligence firm is not able to do so, then the government or any counterparties in civil litigation may be entitled to access the data obtained during – and the records generated as the work product of – the investigation.” – Attorney Nick Oberheiden, Ph.D., Founder of Oberheiden P.C.

While some corporate intelligence firms work in conjunction with independent law firms, others utilize the services of in-house lawyers. The latter model not only streamlines the process and ensures that all individuals who are working on the investigation are able to efficiently work together, but it can also substantially reduce the costs involved. By engaging a corporate intelligence firm that can handle all aspects of your company’s investigative needs while also preserving the attorney-client privilege, you can ensure that your company is protecting its legal and financial interests to the fullest extent possible.

6. Relevant Subject Matter Knowledge

Earlier, we noted the importance of choosing a corporate intelligence firm with personnel who have specific experience with the type of inquiry that your company needs to conduct (i.e. a compliance audit, data security breach assessment, or pre-litigation internal investigation). In addition, it is important to choose a firm with personnel who have relevant subject matter as well. From data security to federal securities and antitrust law compliance, corporate intelligence needs can pertain to an extremely broad range of issues, and it is essential that the investigators and advisors working with your company are well-versed in the substantive issues at hand.

7. Support and Insights Beyond the Investigation

Finally, when choosing a corporate intelligence firm, you need to choose a firm that can provide support and insights beyond your company’s immediate investigative needs. Based on the intelligence that has been gathered (or that is likely to be gathered), what are your company’s next steps? If your company is facing a federal investigation or a potential lawsuit, what defensive measures are necessary, and how does this inform the investigative process? If the investigation reveals shortcomings in your company’s compliance policies and procedures, what additions or modifications are necessary? Depending upon the circumstances at hand, these are just a few of the numerous critical questions that may need to be answered.

When choosing a corporate intelligence firm, it is imperative to look beyond the firm’s investigative and intelligence-gathering capabilities to its ability to advise your company based upon the intelligence it gathers. The broader the firm’s capabilities – and the broader its investigators’, consultants’, and attorneys’ experience and subject matter knowledge – the more your company will be able to get out of the engagement. When a corporate investigation is necessary, cutting corners is not an option, and choosing a firm that cannot follow through on the intelligence it gathers can be a costly mistake.

Oberheiden P.C. © 2020
For more, visit the NLR Corporate & Business Organizations section.

Once More Into The Breach – Or Should That Be Conflict?

A common contractual representation is that the execution and delivery of the agreement does not constitute a breach of one or more other agreements or charter documents.  Sometimes, the representation is that the execution and delivery do not “conflict with” or “violate”.  Is there any difference between a “breach”, a “conflict” or a “violate”?

“Breach” is a word of Old English origin (bryce, meaning a fracture or breaking).  “Conflict” and “Violate” in contrast are of Latin origin.  At the siege of Harfleur,  King Henry V urged his troops to fill the the breach:

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.

W. Shakespeare, Henry V, Act III, Sc. 1.

“Conflict” is derived from conflictus which is the singular, perfect, passive participle of confligere meaning to come together in a collision.  “Violate” is derived from violatus which is the perfect, passive participle of violare meaning to injure or dishonor.  To some, these words may connote different meanings (or shades of meaning) and it is possible that a particular agreement will define what constitutes a breach, conflict or violation.  However, I am not aware of any California precedent that assigns different meanings to these terms as a general matter.

Shakespeare generally preferred to use words of Anglo Saxon origin to those of Latin origin.  This may be attributable to Shakespeare’s reportedly week knowledge of Classical languages.  As Ben Johnson, a rival remarked, Shakespeare knew “small Latin and less Greek”.  However, I believe that the power and appeal of Shakespeare’s plays is partly due to his use of Anglo Saxon and Old English words.

© 2010-2020 Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP

ARTICLE BY Keith Paul Bishop of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
For more, visit the NLR Corporate & Business Organizations section.

“Gig” Workers May Become Eligible to Receive Equity Compensation

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) recently voted to propose temporary rules to permit companies to provide equity compensation to certain workers known as “gig” or “platform” workers.

Under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “33 Act”), every offer or sale of securities must be registered with the SEC unless the issuer relies upon an exemption to such registration. Recognizing that the offers or sales of securities in the form of equity compensation differ from the regular process of raising capital from investors, a limited exemption is provided to issuers under Rule 701 of the 33 Act. Rule 701 currently exempts certain sales of securities by private companies made to compensate employees, consultants, and advisors.

Through the proposed new Rule 701, the SEC is recognizing the existence of certain types of employment relationships in the “gig economy” that fall outside the scope of the traditional employer-employee relationship. These are the “gig” or “platform” workers who have become important to the economy with the increased use of technology. Gig workers use a company’s internet platform to find a specific type of work or “gig” to provide services to end-users. Some common examples are ride-sharing, food delivery, and dog-sitting services. These workers are generally not considered employees, consultants, or advisors, and thus have not been eligible to receive securities pursuant to compensatory arrangements under Rule 701. Under the proposed amendment to Rule 701, however, companies would be permitted to compensate these platform workers with equity compensation, subject to certain conditions.

For an issuer to compensate platform workers pursuant to the proposed new Rule 701, the platform workers will have to provide bona fide services pursuant to a written contract or arrangement by means of an internet platform or other technology-based marketplace platform or system provided by the issuer. Additionally, the issuer is required to operate and control the platform, the proposed issuance of securities to the platform worker must be pursuant to a written compensation arrangement or plan, the issuer must take reasonable steps to prohibit transfer of the securities offered to the platform worker, and the securities issued must not be subject to individual bargaining or the worker’s ability to elect between payment in securities or cash. The offering per worker must be within certain caps on the amount ($75,000) during a 36-month period and a percentage of the value of the compensation (15%) received by the platform worker during a 12-month period. This exemption, if adopted, would be available for a period of five years.

The proposal is subject to a 60-day comment period following its publication in the Federal Register.

Given the benefits that equity compensation offers to both employers and employees, this exemption should provide benefits to both issuers and platform workers in the “gig economy.”

©1994-2020 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. All Rights Reserved.
ARTICLE BY Daniel I. DeWolf of Mintz
For more, visit the NLR Corporate & Business Organizations section.

Why Is The WSJ Attacking A Dead Bill?

Last Friday, The Wall Street Journal published an alarming Op-Ed piece concerning a California Bill, AB 2088, that would impose a wealth tax on any person who spends more than 60 days inside the state’s borders in a single year.   The idea of a transient wealth tax is a very bad idea, but why is the WSJ spilling ink on the bill now?

AB 2088 started its brief life in February of this year as a bill to amend, of all things, the Education Code.  In March, it became a bill that would amend the Elections Code.  It was not until August 13, that the bill was gutted and amended to impose a wealth tax on sojourners to the Golden State.  The bill, however, never made it out of the house of origin.  When the session ended, the bill died.  The current legislative biennium began earlier this month and it is possible that the authors will resurrect the wealth tax idea in a new bill.  The bill introduction deadline is not until February 19, 2021 and we may have to wait until then to see if a reincarnated bill is introduced.  Even if after that deadline, it is possible that the legislature will gut and amend another bill to implement the tax.

The WSJ’s attack on a dead bill reminds me of a story about Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor.  After defeating the Lutheran princes in the First Smalkaldic War, he entered the university town of Wittenberg where Martin Luther was buried.   Encouraged to desecrate Luther’s remains, Charles reportedly proclaimed “Let [Luther’s bones] rest until Judgment Day . . . I don’t make war on the dead . . .”.

© 2010-2020 Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
For more, visit the NLR Corporate & Business Organizations section.

Are Diversity Riders Legal?

Some venture capital firms have recently begun including so-called “diversity riders” in their term sheets.  In general, these require that the issuer and the lead investor make commercially reasonable efforts to include a member of an underrepresented community as an investor in the financing.  However well-intentioned the proponents of these clauses may be, the question arises whether they run afoul of state laws forbidding discrimination in private sector.

California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, for example, provides:

” All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.”

Cal. Civ. Code § 51(b).   The question, of course, is whether an obligation to include particular persons based on sex, race, color etc. runs afoul of “full and equal” advantages.  Notably, the protection of the Act extends to “all persons” and is not confined to a limited class of protected persons.  The use of the word “all” and the phrase “every kind whatsoever” makes it clear that the phrase “business establishments” is to be interpreted in the broadest sense reasonably possible.

It is quite obvious that if an issuer or lead investor discriminates in favor of one class of persons, it is not treating all persons in a “full and equal” manner.  Further, discrimination in favor of one class of persons (however defined) necessarily involves discrimination against all persons who do not belong to that class.

© 2010-2020 Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
For more articles on California Corporate Law, visit the National Law Review Corporate & Business Organizations section.

“Is You Is or Is You Ain’t:” Membership in an LLC

The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division case Giordano DeCandia v. Anthony T. Rinaldi, LLC d/a The Rinaldi Group and Anthony Rinaldi, (N.J. App. Div., Oct. 5, 2020) per curiam, is about whether the plaintiff was or is a member of the LLC, and the economic consequences of that determination. The Appellate Division affirmed the rulings of the trial court (in a bench trial), except for reversing one of the defendants’ counterclaims. The case is most important for two reasons: first, it underscores the potential for chaos resulting from the uncertainties of oral versus written claims; and second, it reveals that the New Jersey judiciary, even at the intermediate appellate level, still finds a limited liability company (even 27 years after the first NJ LLC statute was adopted) a strange and challenging creature. The critical issue of membership is nicely captured by the rather famous old jazz song written by Louis Jordan and Billy Austin and first recorded on October 4, 1943, just over three weeks after your author was born. As its title invokes, when uncertainty abounds, it is difficult to have more than an ephemeral relationship.

Membership in an LLC

Rinaldi had a construction management and general contracting business in New York and New Jersey. In 2003, he formed the LLC as a manager-managed LLC, with himself as both the sole member and the manager. Plaintiff DeCandia began working for the LLC in 2011, with a compensation package of a salary plus a 10% ownership interest, with the ability (based on the amount of work the plaintiff brought in) to go to 20% of “net profits on that work.” The plaintiff signed an operating agreement on February 14, 2011. The Capital Contribution schedule attached to that 2011 agreement stated that the “plaintiff’s ownership interest is performance-based rather than through capital contributions.” The plaintiff received an LLC membership certificate reciting the arrangement. Rinaldi later testified that “profit-sharing is a prevalent and customary compensation mechanism within the commercial construction industry.” It is worth noting that the LLC’s comptroller also testified that the parties advised of the arrangement and that she had a similar profit-sharing deal. On September 25, 2013, the parties signed an amended operating agreement (the “2013 agreement”), adding two more members as the company grew, and giving them similar percentage interests. The plaintiff received an increase to a 20% interest, and a replacement LLC membership certificate reciting the new terms. The old certificate was voided.

In 2015, Rinaldi and the plaintiff began negotiating a buy-sell agreement, to buy out a deceased member’s interest from the surviving spouse, in case either Rinaldi or the plaintiff died. The Court notes that the initial draft of the agreement said that plaintiff would own “twenty percent of the common stock of the LLC.” On October 19, 2015, the parties, two other LLC “employees” (the Court’s term), and the LLC’s accountant met to discuss the buy-sell agreement, tax implications, and financial liabilities related to being (what the Court calls) “an equity partner.” Plaintiff, per the accountant, purportedly said that he was interested in “profits, not taxes.” The Court also reports, without any clarifying explanation, that plaintiff “wanted to avoid any personal liability on the LLC’s bonds.” The plaintiff may have been referring to payment and performance bonds, which are usual in the construction business, as opposed to debt instruments. In that meeting, Rinaldi disclosed that the LLC was under criminal investigation by the New York City Borough of Manhattan District Attorney after the NY Department of Buildings found that numerous safety violations by the LLC caused death at a construction site. Testimony asserted that the plaintiff became frightened that his LLC membership certificate might expose the plaintiff to criminal liability. Rinaldi told the plaintiff that if he was scared, he should resign and turn his LLC membership certificate over to the LLC’s attorney. Shortly after, the plaintiff did so, without signing the certificate or providing any other “explanatory writing.” No buy-sell agreement was ever entered into with the plaintiff. The Court states that after that October meeting, the plaintiff received his salary plus bonuses, but no “profit-sharing.” The plaintiff never sought to recover his membership certificate.

By March 2017, things had deteriorated to the point that Rinaldi terminated the plaintiff. The plaintiff, apparently anticipating that deterioration had contacted a competitor of the LLC in 2016. On the plaintiff’s last day with the LLC, he sent his wife the LLC’s proposed budget for a job it was bidding on; she forwarded the budget to the competitor, which submitted a rival bid. The plaintiff then met with the executives of the potential customer and urged them to hire the LLC’s competitor. The employment agreement plaintiff signed on April 28, 2017, recited that he did not have an ownership interest in any competitor of his new employer. On September 15, 2017, the plaintiff sued the LLC, and Rinaldi, seeking a declaratory judgment that he was a 20% owner of the LLC and other relief. Defendants counterclaimed that the plaintiff had breached his common law duty of loyalty as an employee AND his duty of loyalty as a member of the LLC. The trial court held against the plaintiff on all claims and granted the defendants’ counterclaims. The Appellate Division upheld the trial court’s rulings on all but the counterclaim for breach of the duty of loyalty as a member of the LLC. That statutory obligation applies to members of a member-managed limited liability company, but the LLC was manager-managed so that the duty applied only to managers; Rinaldi was the sole manager. The plaintiff’s efforts to assert equitable claims relating to minority oppression and the like failed because, as both the trial court and the Appellate Division found, the plaintiff’s double-dealing gave him “unclean hands.”

“Is You Is or Is You Ain’t”

Carefully written documents could have resolved most of the factual ambiguities. But both trial and appeal courts found sufficient basis for concluding that the plaintiff had voluntarily withdrawn from the LLC, one of the acts of dissociation that ends membership. Given the trial, the Court’s determination that the plaintiff was not a member or had withdrawn as a member, it is not clear how the trial court could have found that the plaintiff had violated a duty of loyalty owed by a member of a limited liability company. Even more troubling in both opinions (beyond the occasional inaccurate language, e.g., limited liability companies do not have “common stock;” a member of a limited liability company is not an “equity partner”) is the finding that the concept of a contingent percentage interest in an unincorporated business was mere compensation and did not result in plaintiff owning a membership interest in the LLC. That is simply a misstatement of the law. A person may become a member of a limited liability company with a present, vested interest or with a contingent, earning-based interest. Or as it appears from the recitals noted in the Appellate Division opinion, both. The plaintiff’s original deal was:

  • salary;
  • 10% membership interest; and
  • contingent 10% “profit-sharing” interest based on the work plaintiff brought in

Ultimately, as both courts held that plaintiff had given up “whatever ownership interest he may have held in the LLC,” the issue was moot. But the language in the Appellate Division opinion might well allow a future court to find that someone who is in fact a member of a limited liability company in New Jersey is not a member at law – a troubling risk and a reason to consider forming an unincorporated entity under the law of a jurisdiction other than New Jersey.

©2020 Norris McLaughlin P.A., All Rights Reserved
For more articles on corporate law, visit the National Law Review Corporate & Business Organizations section.

Is A Corporation’s Address A Trade Secret?

“Cryptocurrency” is a hybrid word form from the Greek adjective, κρυπτός, meaning hidden, and the Latin participle, currens, mean running or flowing.  The word “currency” is also derived from currens, perhaps based on the idea that money flows from one person to the next in an economy.  Literally, cryptocurrency, is secret money.  But there are secrets and there a secrets.

Recently, a cryptocurrency exchange sued one of its employees for violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, 18 U.S.C. § 1831-39.  Among other things, the company alleged that the erstwhile employee had disclosed the “physical address” of the company in a complaint filed in a state court action.  Until now, I had never considered that a company’s physical address might be a secret.  The company argued that “keeping its physical address secret serves to protect it from ‘physical security threats,’ providing as an example of such threats ‘a recent spate of kidnappings’ of persons who work for cryptocurrency exchanges”.  Payward, Inc. v. Runyon, U.S. Dist.

Judge Maxine M. Chesney ruled for the defendant, finding that the plaintiff had failed to allege how its competitors would gain an economic advantage by knowing the company’s address.  Accordingly, Judge Chesney found that the plaintiff had not pled that the address met the definition of a trade secret under the DTSA.

I was somewhat nonplussed by the idea of an office address being a secret (trade or otherwise).  After all, the plaintiff, a Delaware corporation, had filed a Statement of Information with the California Secretary of State disclosing the address of its principal executive office (which is the same as its principal executive office in California).  That filing is a readily accessible public record.  It may be, however, that the address disclosed by the defendant was for another location not disclosed in the Statement of Information.

Etymologists use the term “hybrid word” to refer to a word that is formed by the combination of words from two different languages.  Greek-Latin hybrids are the most common form of hybrids in English.  English does have hybrids formed from other languages.  For example, “chocoholic” is a hybrid formed from New and Old World languages – Nahuatl, xocolatl, and Arabic, اَلْكُحُول (al-kuḥūl).  

© 2010-2020 Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP
For more articles on corporate law, visit the National Law Review Corporate & Business Organizations section.

Amrock Lawsuit Spotlights Consequences of Litigious Gamesmanship

Trade Secret Litigation Commentary

 

On June 3, the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the dumbfounding $740 million award in Title Source v. HouseCanary – a welcome development for American innovation and business collaboration. On the back of years-long litigation, a fresh trial of the case can offer important signals for corporations on the risks and rewards of collaboration, as well as deliver much-needed guidance on best practices to navigate already murky trade secret protections.

For the uninitiated, litigation between HouseCanary and Title Source (now Amrock) was borne out of a contract the two companies entered in 2015. The arrangement obligated the delivery of an automated valuation model (AVM) and an app to Title Source at a rate of $5 million per year for HouseCanary’s efforts. Title Source intended to use the software and app as a platform to provide customers the ability to assess property values digitally alongside other services the company offers, like title insurance and closing services. After HouseCanary failed to meet its contractual obligation to deliver a working AVM app, Title Source sued for breach of contract.

HouseCanary then filed a counter claim including allegations that Title Source had misappropriated proprietary information, in this case trade secrets, in an attempt to make an app of its [Title Source’s] own. After a six-week trial that concluded in March 2018, a Texas jury decided in favor of HouseCanary and awarded nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars – one of the largest tort settlements of the year.

Should anyone be keeping score at home, that means the case’s settlement was valued at nearly 150 times the annual payout HouseCanary was to receive from its work with Title Source and dwarfed the firm’s multiple rounds of venture funding by over $600 million. For HouseCanary, litigation proved more profitable than any of its own business ventures, and the settlement certainly outstripped the going market rates on AVMs.

By the conclusion of the original trial, it seemed clear that Title Source had not misappropriated HouseCanary’s trade secrets or proprietary information in building its own app. Further, HouseCanary’s own expert witness testified that there weren’t “any fingerprints, any clues, any reference to any HouseCanary technology” in the app Title Source developed on its own.

Regrettably, the jury’s finding against Title Source was based on inaccurate and incomplete information, unsubstantiated inadmissible character attacks, and back-of-the-napkin math from a questionable damages ‘expert.’ It seemed to be more focused on sticking it to corporate America rather than the actual facts and merits of the case. Not only was the jury gravely mislead, but they also never heard critical information which came to light days after the trial concluded.

Post-trial statements by a former HouseCanary executive turned whistleblower clarified that there was never a “working version” of the app to be delivered to Title Source, and per three more former HouseCanary executives, that the company didn’t have “any IP to steal.” The cogency of HouseCanary’s allegations were further thrown into question when the company, six weeks after the trial’s closure, moved to seal a number of exhibited documents from court record.

As I wrote previously, once the sealing motion was overturned, the documents should “provide another look at the technology in question, which will provide clarity whether there were trade secrets to be stolen.” This is especially important when considered in tandem with the whistleblower testimony.

These and other erroneous inclusions and fatal procedural errors led to a Texas appellate court overturning the verdict and ordering a new trial. The ramifications of the decision in the new trial promise to be immense, especially if HouseCanary invokes Texas’ Uniform Trade Secrets Act for a second time. The Act has been adopted by 47 states total, and significantly broadens the implications of this trial for business operations in all kinds of industries by setting precedent for other lawsuits.

Trade secret litigation has increased tremendously in the past decade, with over 2,700 cases since 2009; add on the massive original settlement and the ruling may very well set the tone for the future of trade secret litigation and the standard of intellectual property protections.

Given the new evidence that has emerged since the jury delivered its decision in 2018, the cards certainly appear stacked against HouseCanary successfully duping the retrial jury. There is little doubt that businesses and innovators everywhere will be awaiting the verdict of the Texas court for clarity on trade secret protections and our court system’s tolerance for overwhelmingly apparent legal gamesmanship.

© George Nethercutt

Authored by George Nethercutt of The George Nethercutt Foundation, a guest contributor to the National Law Review.

For more on trade secrets, see the National Law Review Intellectual Property law section.

Asset Protection for Doctors and Other Healthcare Providers: What Do You Need to Know?

As a doctor or other healthcare professional, you spend your career helping other people and earning an income upon which you rely on a daily basis—and upon which you hope to be able to rely in your retirement. However, working in healthcare is inherently risky, and a study published by Johns Hopkins Medicine which concluded that medical malpractice is the third-leading cause of death in the United States has led to a flood of lawsuits in recent years. As a result, taking appropriate measures to protect your assets is more important now than ever, and physicians and other providers at all stages of their careers would be well-advised to put an asset protection strategy in place.

What is an asset protection strategy? Simply put, it is a means of making sure that you do not lose what you have earned. Medical malpractice lawsuits, federal healthcare fraud investigations, disputes with practice co-owners, and liability risks in your personal life can all put your assets in jeopardy. While insurance provides a measure of protection – and is something that no practicing healthcare professional should go without – it is not sufficient on its own. Doctors and other healthcare providers need to take additional steps to protect their wealth, as their insurance coverage will either be inadequate or inapplicable in many scenarios.

“In today’s world, physicians and other healthcare providers face liability risks on a daily basis. In order to protect their assets, providers must implement risk-mitigation strategies in their medical practices, and they must also take measures to shield their wealth in the event that they get sued.”

What Types of Events Can Put Healthcare Providers’ Assets at Risk?

Why do doctors and other healthcare providers need to be concerned about asset protection? As referenced above, medical professionals face numerous risks in their personal and professional lives. While some of these risks apply to everyone, it is doctors’ and other medical professionals’ additional practice-related risks – and personal wealth – that makes implementing an asset protection strategy particularly important. Some examples of the risks that can be mitigated with an effective asset protection strategy include:

  • Medical Malpractice Lawsuits – All types of practitioners and healthcare facilities face the risk of being targeted in medical malpractice litigation. From allegations of diagnostic errors to allegations of inadequate staffing, plaintiffs’ attorneys pursue a multitude of types of claims against healthcare providers, and they often seek damages well in excess of providers’ malpractice insurance policy limits.
  • Contract Disputes and Commercial Lawsuits – In addition to patient-related litigation, medical practices and healthcare facilities can face liability in other types of civil lawsuits as well. By extension, their owners’ assets can also be at risk, as there are laws that allow litigants to “pierce the corporate veil” and pursue personal liability in various circumstances.
  • Federal Healthcare Fraud Investigations – Multiple federal agencies target healthcare providers in fraud-related investigations. From improperly billing Medicare or Medicaid to accepting illegal “kickbacks” from suppliers, there are numerous forms of healthcare fraud under federal law. Healthcare fraud investigations can either be civil or criminal in nature, and they can lead to enormous fines, recoupments, treble damages, and other penalties.
  • Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Audits and Inspections – In addition to healthcare fraud investigations, DEA audits and inspections present risks for healthcare providers as well. If your pharmacy or medical practice is registered with the DEA, any allegations of mishandling, diverting, or otherwise unlawfully distributing controlled substances can lead to substantial liability.
  • Liability for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death in Auto and Premises-Related Accidents – In addition to liability risks related to medical practice, doctors, other practitioners, and healthcare business owners can face liability risks in their personal lives as well. If you are involved in a serious auto accident, for example, you could be at risk for liability above and beyond your auto insurance coverage. Likewise, if someone is seriously injured in a fall or other accident while visiting your home (or office), you could be at risk for liability in a personal injury lawsuit in this scenario as well.

To be clear, an asset protection strategy mitigates the risk of losing your wealth as a result of these types of concerns—it does not mitigate these concerns themselves. The means for addressing medical practice-related concerns is through the adoption and implementation of an effective healthcare compliance program.

Are Asset Protection Strategies Legal?

One of the most-common misconceptions about asset protection is that it is somehow illegal. However, there are various laws and legal structures that are designed specifically to provide ways for individuals and businesses to protect their assets, and it is absolutely legal to use these to your full advantage. Just as you would not expect your patients to ignore treatment options that are available to them, you are not expected to ignore legal tools and strategies that are available to you.

What are Some Examples of Effective Asset Protection Tools for Doctors and Other Healthcare Providers?

Given the very real liability risks that doctors and other healthcare providers face, for those who do not currently have an asset protection strategy in place, implementing a strategy needs to be a priority. With regard to certain issues, asset protection measures need to be in place before a liability-triggering event occurs. Some examples of the types of tools that physicians, healthcare business owners, and other individuals can use to protect their assets include:

1. Maximizing Use of Qualified Retirement Plans

Qualified retirement plans that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) can offer significant protection. Of course, obvious the limitation here is that these assets placed in a qualified plan will only be available to you in retirement. However, by maximizing your use of a qualified retirement plan to the extent that you are preserving your assets for the future, you can secure protection for plan assets against many types of judgments and other creditor claims.

2. Utilizing Nonqualified Retirement Plans as Necessary

If you operate your medical practice as a sole proprietor, then you are not eligible to establish a qualified retirement plan under ERISA. However, placing assets into a nonqualified retirement plan can also provide these assets with an important layer of protection. This protection exists under state law, so you will need to work with your asset protection attorney to determine whether and to what extent this is a desirable option.

3. Forming a Trust

Trusts are the centerpieces of many high-net-worth individuals’ asset protection strategies. There are many types of irrevocable trusts that can be used to shield assets from judgment and debt creditors. When you place assets into an irrevocable trust, they are no longer “yours.” Instead they become assets of the trust. However, you will still retain control over the trust in accordance with the terms of the trust’s governing documents. Some examples of trusts that are commonly used for asset protection purposes include:

  • Domestic asset protection trusts (DAPT)
  • Foreign asset protection trusts (FAPT)
  • Personal residents trusts
  • Irrevocable spendthrift trusts

4. Offshore Investing

Investing assets offshore can offer several layers of asset protection. Not only do many countries have laws that are particularly favorable for keeping assets safe from domestic liabilities in the United States; but, in many cases, civil plaintiffs will be deterred from pursuing lawsuits once they learn that any attempts to collect would need to be undertaken overseas. Combined with other asset protection strategies (such as the formation of a trust or limited liability company (LLC)), transferring assets to a safe haven offshore can will provide the most-desirable combination of protection and flexibility.

5. Forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or Other Entity

If you are operating your medical practice as a sole proprietor, it will almost certainly make sense to form an LLC or another business entity to provide a layer of protection between you and any claims or allegations that may arise. However, even if you have a business entity in place already—and even if you are an employee of a hospital or other large facility—forming an LLC or other entity can still be a highly-effective asset protection strategy.

6. Utilizing Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements, and Other Tools

Depending on your marital or relationship status, using a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement to designate assets as “marital” or “community” property can help protect these assets from your personal creditors (although debts and judgments incurred against you and your spouse jointly could still be enforced against these assets). Additionally, there are various other asset protection tools that will be available based on specific personal, family, and business circumstances.

7. Gifting or Transferring Assets

If you have assets that you plan to give to your spouse, children, or other loved ones in the future, making a gift now can protect these assets from any claims against you. Likewise, in some cases it may make sense to sell, transfer, or mortgage assets in order to open up additional opportunities for protection.

Ultimately, the tools you use to protect your assets will need to reflect your unique situation, and an attorney who is familiar with your personal and professional circumstances can help you develop a strategy that achieves the maximum protection available.

Oberheiden P.C. © 2020  

ARTICLE BY Dr. Nick Oberheiden of Oberheiden P.C.

For more articles on healthcare providers, see the National Law Review Health Law & Managed Care section.

Keeping Things in Bounds: Private Company Owners Need to Abide by Clear Fiduciary Duties in Managing Their Companies

In February 2009, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes made a toe tapping catch in the back corner of the end zone[1] to secure a thrilling, come-from-behind win and crush the hearts of Arizona Cardinals fans in Super Bowl 43.  For private company owners running their own firms, the boundaries for their conduct are set by the fiduciary duties they owe to their companies.  But in both sports and the management of private businesses, team leaders can find it challenging to remain in bounds.  This post therefore reviews the legal lanes of proper conduct that owners will want to follow to avoid future claims.

The Scope of Fiduciary Duties

The fiduciary duties of corporate directors and officers are not included in the Texas Business Organizations Code (“BOC”), but Texas case law for more than a century makes clear that both directors and company officers owe duties of obedience, care, and loyalty, and these duties are owed to the company, not to the individual shareholders.  See Tenison, v. Patton, 95 Tex. 284, 67 S.W. 92 (1902); Ritchie v. Rupe, 443 S.W.3d 856, 868 (Tex. 2014).  These same fiduciary duties also apply to LLC managers and officers, and all of these parties are referred to in this post as “control persons.”

The Ritchie case focused on whether minority shareholders have a legal right to secure a court-ordered buyout of their minority ownership interest based on claims that control persons engaged in shareholder oppression.  The Court held no claim for shareholder oppression exists in the BOC or at common law that would authorize a trial court to order the company or majority owners to buy the minority owner’s stake in the business.  But, the Ritchie Court did uphold the right of minority shareholders to pursue claims against officers and directors for breach of their fiduciary duties, and recognized that these claims could be brought on a derivative basis.  In this regard, the Court stated that:

“Directors, or those acting as directors, owe a fiduciary duty to the corporation in their directorial actions,and this duty “includes the dedication of [their] uncorrupted business judgment for the sole benefit of the corporation.”  443 S.W.3d at 868.

The BOC permits the fiduciary duties of control persons to be limited in the company’s governance documents, but the statute does not permit a company to remove the duty of loyalty owed by control persons.  The remainder of this post focuses on what the duty of loyalty requires from governing persons in their business relationship with their companies.

Conflicts Transactions by Control Persons Can Lead to Claims

Owners of private companies commonly engage in transactions with their businesses in their capacity as control persons.  Majority owners may buy, sell and lease property from or to their companies, buy and sell products or services from other businesses they also own or control, and loan money to their companies to fund their business operations.  All of these transactions are not at “arm’s-length” and, instead, they are “interested party” transactions, which are sometimes referred to as “conflict transactions.”  These types of conflicts transactions may result in claims by the minority owners who allege that the transactions breached the control person’s fiduciary duties because they were not fair to the company.

Once again, the Supreme Court in Ritchie addressed this problem:

[T]he duty of loyalty that officers and directors owe to the corporation specifically prohibits them from misapplying corporate assets for their personal gain or wrongfully diverting corporate opportunities to themselves. Like most of the actions we have already discussed, these types of actions may be redressed through a derivative action, or through a direct action brought by the corporation, for breach of fiduciary duty.  443 S.W.3d at 887.

There is a “safe harbor” provision in the BOC for company control persons when they engage in business with their company for their personal benefit.  Section 21.418 of the BOC provides that when a control person enters into a transaction with the Company, which would otherwise be void or voidable, the transaction will be nevertheless be upheld as valid if certain conditions are met.  We discussed this safe harbor statute in more detail in a previous post (Read Here).  In summary, a conflict transaction by a control person will be upheld if (i) the details of the transaction were fully disclosed to and approved by a majority of the shareholders and/or by a majority of the disinterested directors or (ii) if the transaction is deemed to be objectively fair to the company.

Fairness is not defined in the BOC provisions, but fair is defined in Webster’s dictionary as “characterized by honesty and justice” and “free from fraud, injustice, prejudice or favoritism.  Once the minority shareholder brings a claim and demonstrates that a control person engaged in a conflict transaction, the control person will then bear the burden of demonstrating in the case that the terms of the transaction were fair to the company.  To avoid being forced to litigate the issue of fairness, control persons may want to avoid the following types of conflict transactions or, alternatively, they may want to take steps to head off the expected challenge from minority owners that the transaction was not fair to the company.

Examples of Conflicts Transactions

The following are the most common types of conflict transactions that control persons engage in with their companies, and for each of these, an approach is suggested that can either eliminate or reduce the potential for future claims.

  • Theft of corporate opportunity
    The duty of loyalty requires control persons not to take business opportunities for themselves that rightfully belong to the company.  When control persons take company opportunities, this is referred to as usurpation or misappropriation and it is a breach of fiduciary duty.  There is a clear way, however, for control persons to avoid this claim.  In 2003, the BOC was amended to allow for a company to include in its certificate of formation, bylaws or in its company agreement an express waiver of the control person’s duty not to usurp a company opportunity.  See. BOC Section 2.101(21).  The specific language gives the company the power to:

 . . . renounce, in its certificate of formation or by action of its governing authority, an interest or expectancy of the entity in, or an interest or expectancy of the entity in being offered an opportunity to participate in, specified business opportunities or a specified class or category of business opportunities presented to the entity or one or more of its managerial officials or owners. 

As indicated by this provision, the certificate, bylaw or provision of the company agreement needs to make clear the specific type or category of opportunities that are being excluded from the duty.  By including this limitation on the duty of loyalty, however, the control person will be immune from any liability for usurping a corporate opportunity of the company as it is defined in the bylaws or in the provisions of the LLC agreement.

  • Purchase or sale or lease of property to company, and loans to company 
    It is common for control persons to either sell, purchase or lease property, assets or services to/from the company they control or to provide loans to the company.  These are all conflict transactions that can, and often do, give rise to claims for breach of fiduciary duty and fights about whether the control person engaged in a transaction that was unfair to the company.  To avoid or at least limit claims related to these types of transactions, there are a number of common sense, practical steps that control persons can take before they engage in the transaction.

First, the control person should fully disclose all material terms of the transaction to other shareholders, the board and/or managers of the company and seek their approval, which if given, should eliminate all future claims.  Second, when there are objections raised to the transaction, the control person should consider securing input from outside experts to provide objective information.  For example, if the control person is selling or leasing property to the company, the control person should arrange for an independent appraiser to provide a written appraisal to set the property’s market value.  If a lease of property is at issue, an independent broker can provide market value lease rates for the type of property at issue.  Third, when the company is receiving loans from the control person, bankers can readily provide loan terms that reflect market rates.

Finally, the control person should consider structuring the transaction in a way that provides the company with a better deal on terms more favorable than market rates.  The control person does not need to give the company a gift in the transaction, but if the company receives a deal that is better than market rates, that will make it harder for the other shareholders or LLC members to complain that there was any lack of fairness in the transaction to the company.

  •  Compensation and bonuses 
    Finally, a hot button point with shareholders and members is often compensation, and more specifically, how much money is paid in base compensation and bonuses to the majority owner in his/her capacity as an officer, director or manager.  The obvious concern is that funds paid in compensation should, instead, be issued as dividends or distributions to all owners, and that the compensation paid to the majority owner is considered a “disguised distribution.”

If the other shareholders or members express concern regarding the compensation and bonuses that are being paid to the majority owners, this issue should be addressed by hiring an experienced and independent executive compensation expert.  The compensation expert will provide the company with a range of compensation that is being paid to executives at similarly situated companies in the same or similar industry and geographic region.  As noted above, rather than choosing a compensation/bonus level at the top end of the range determined by the expert, the majority owner is advised to select a range of compensation in the 70-80% range to limit the likelihood of any claim being brought by minority owners on this basis.

Conclusion

In King Henry IV, Shakespeare wrote: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”  One cause for this unease by private company owners who wear the mantle of leadership is that they are subject to suits by co-owners for breach of loyalty to the company.  But staying inbounds is by no means an insurmountable challenge for majority owners, as control persons, if they follow a few simple ground rules.  In short, majority owners need to be fully transparent in all of their transactions with the company, they should seek agreement when possible with other owners, but when an agreement is not possible, they need to secure specific input from outside experts who can validate the fairness of the transaction to the company before it takes place.  And regarding that Santonio Holmes TD catch, let’s look ahead and hope the Cardinals get another chance at a Super Bowl win soon led by their exciting QB and No. 1 Draft Choice, Kyler Murray.

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[1] Cardinals fans like me continue to question whether Holmes actually managed to get his right toes down on the turf in the end zone before he was pushed out of bounds, and photographs of the catch prolong this debate.

© 2020 Winstead PC.
For more on Corporate Fiduciary Duties, see the National Law Review Corporate & Business Organization’s law section.