American Twine Ltd. Partnership v. Written

392 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22361, 2005 WL 2436443
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 20, 2005
DocketCIV.A.02-10590 NMG
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 392 F. Supp. 2d 13 (American Twine Ltd. Partnership v. Written) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Twine Ltd. Partnership v. Written, 392 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22361, 2005 WL 2436443 (D. Mass. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

GORTON, District Judge.

This case focuses upon the validity of a $10 million secured bridge loan that certain defendants and other individuals extended to a now-defunct entity of which they were also shareholders. Plaintiff, a former landlord and creditor of the subject entity, seeks to have this Court equitably subordinate the bridge loan and/or to re-characterize it as an equity investment, thereby rendering payments made pursuant to it invalid.

The parties appeared for trial before this Court, sitting without a jury, on July 25, July 26, August 15 and August 16, 2005. The Court now announces its findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I.Findings of Fact

A. Parties

1. Plaintiff, American Twine Limited Partnership (“American Twine”), is a duly organized, Massachusetts limited partnership which owns commercial property located at 222 Third Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2. Defendants Gregory F. Whitten (“Whitten”) and Ruth Whitten (together, “the Whittens”) are natural persons who reside in Medina, Washington.

3. Defendant DKSW, LLC (“DKSW”) is a Delaware limited liability company.

B. Northern Light

i. Early Years

4. Northern Light Technology, LLC (“NLT I”) was a Delaware limited liability company that was formed in March, 1997. The primary business of NLT I and its successors was to develop internet search engine technology.

5. On April 6,1999, NLT I entered into a Lease Agreement with American Twine, pursuant to which NLT I leased certain space at 222 Third Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts (“the Premises”). The term of the Lease Agreement was from April 7, 1999 to November 30, 2004. Pursuant to the Lease Agreement, the annual rent was $913,600 and the annual electricity charges were $29,360, payable in monthly installments. Subsequent Amendments to the Lease Agreement modified the annual rent, electricity charges and other aspects of the lease.

6. In September, 1999, NLT I converted into a C Corporation and was incorporated in the State of Delaware. It became Northern Light Technology, Inc. (“INC”), which acquired all of the assets and liabilities of NLT I, including the obligations under the Lease Agreement, as amended.

7. INC, like many high technology companies during the internet “bubble” of the late 1990s, raised huge amounts of capital. From 1995 through December, 2000, INC conducted eight separate equity financing rounds, consecutively lettered from Series A through Series H. As a result of those rounds of financing, it raised over $110 million.

8. Also similar to many high technology companies during the same period, INC incurred prodigious expenses. Its expenses consistently exceeded its revenues and the company was never profitable. INC’s net income was negative $37 million in 1999, negative $67 million in 2000 and in early 2001 the company projected that its net income would be negative $25 million that year. Although the company projected a positive net income in 2002, that never occurred.

*16 9. In late 1999 and early 2000, INC’s management and Board of Directors contemplated an initial public offering (“IPO”) and began making preparations for such an offering. However, due to the burst of the internet “bubble”, the prospects for INC’s IPO became dismal and by the fourth quarter of 2000 it was apparent to INC that it would not be able to engage in a successful IPO in the then foreseeable future.

10. In the fourth quarter of 2000, INC was desperately in need of a cash infusion. After recognizing that an IPO was impossible, it searched for a strategic investor or partner that would invest funds in INC but was unsuccessful in that effort.

11. INC decided, therefore, to conduct another round of financing, through which it hoped to raise $25 million. From December, 2000 until January, 2001, INC conducted the Series H round of financing and, although it was unable to raise the full $25 million, it raised $15.6 million in new capital.

12. In the first quarter of 2001, INC began to negotiate a strategic partnership or acquisition arrangement with LexisNex-is (“Lexis”). Management believed that INC would reach an arrangement with Lexis that would provide financial solvency to INC but that because negotiations surrounding the deal would be a lengthy process, any deal was unlikely to be completed before late spring or summer of 2001. As it turned out, the anticipated deal with Lexis never materialized.

13. Considering the amount of money INC was losing (“burning”) each month, the $15.6 million raised in the Series H round of financing was expected to enable the company to survive only another six months. INC foresaw that it would need additional funding in order to survive until the expected Lexis deal could be consummated.

14. The Whittens invested in INC in the Series D, E, F, G and H rounds. They were not employees, directors or controlling shareholders of INC, had no formal relationship with INC other than as shareholders, had no contractual right to attend board of directors meetings and did not vote at them. However, Whitten and certain other investors were permitted to, and occasionally did, attend board meetings in person or by phone.

ii. Bridge Loan

15. In early 2001, after the Series H round fell short of INC’s expectations and with INC facing the possibility of exhausting available funds before the consummation of any deal with Lexis, Whitten and David Seuss (“Seuss”), the CEO of INC, discussed the possibility of Whitten extending additional funding to INC in the form of a bridge loan. The Whittens and Seuss agreed that it would be in INC’s best interests for the company to raise $10 million in additional funding.

16. The Court makes no finding regarding whether the idea of additional advances from the Whittens originated with Whitten, Seuss or someone else. Although both parties made much of that issue, the Court does not consider it to have any bearing upon the relevant issues of fact or law. Regardless of who first suggested that Whitten advance additional funds to INC, the extension of the bridge loan and the negotiation of its terms was a collaborative effort between the Whittens and representatives of INC.

17. The Whittens were willing to be responsible for a significant portion of a bridge loan (hereinafter “the Bridge Loan”) but did not want to contribute the entire $10 million. The Whittens wanted, and encouraged, other investors to participate in the Bridge Loan but their offer to *17 make it was not contingent upon the participation of any other investors.

18. Between February and April, 2001, the Bridge Loan was negotiated between INC and the Whittens. Whitten, Seuss and the Board of Directors of INC (“the Board”) considered different forms for Whitten’s proffer of funds to take, including the creation of equity, debt secured by a convertible debenture with 8% interest per annum or straight debt.

19. On March 26, 2001, Whitten and Seuss proposed to the Board that the Whittens advance $5 million of a $7.5 to $10 million loan to INC.

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392 F. Supp. 2d 13, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22361, 2005 WL 2436443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-twine-ltd-partnership-v-written-mad-2005.