Atlas Technologies, LLC v. Levine

268 F. Supp. 3d 950
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJuly 26, 2017
DocketCase Number 16-13085
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 268 F. Supp. 3d 950 (Atlas Technologies, LLC v. Levine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atlas Technologies, LLC v. Levine, 268 F. Supp. 3d 950 (E.D. Mich. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

DAVID M. LAWSON, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Atlas Technologies, LLC, a company that has designed and built press [956]*956room automation equipment for over 50 years, has sued two of its former officers for misappropriation of funds, fraud, and self-dealing. The second amended complaint lists fourteen counts, all of which the defendants say must be dismissed. They base their arguments mainly on a 2011 LLC agreement, which is not attached to the pleadings and is only referenced in the second amended complaint in passing. The defendants also rely on Delaware law in several of their arguments, which they say applies because Atlas is a company formed under the laws of that state. However, Michigan law governs the tort claims, and the 2011 LLC agreement is not central to the plaintiffs claims and does not provide a basis for assessing the viability of the pleaded claims. Except for one fraud count and one statutory count, the second amended complaint pleads claims for which relief can be granted. Therefore, the Court will grant in part and deny in part the defendants’ motion to dismiss.'

I.

The defendants are Jesse Levine, Atlas’s former chief executive officer and chief financial officer; Julius Levine, its former chief operating officer; and the Julius S. Levine Revocable Trust (Levine Trust). Plaintiff Atlas, is a limited liability company whose affairs are managed by a board of managers. The plaintiff alleges in its second amended complaint that Jesse became chief éxecutive officer of Atlas in January 2012. He also was a member of the board. It is not clear when he first became affiliated with the company, or when he assumed the duties of chief financial officer. Jesse hired his father, Julius and gave him the title of chief operating officer, on September 17,2012.

Atlas says that it began experiencing financial difficulties in 2011. It alleges that Jesse exploited the. situation to “obtain unchecked power and control” over the company. To do so, Atlas believes that Jesse, along with his father, breached their fiduciary duties,, and violated Atlas’s “Declaration of Business Principles,” which they signed. One of the tenets of that “Principles Contract” was that officers cannot personally profit from business transactions “as a result of their official position.” Another is that outside business activities that might compete with Atlas’s interests were prohibited. And another was to “avoid having financial interests in any firm doing business with or seeking to do business with the corporation, which might result in a conflict of interest.” Finally, the Principles Contract prohibited outside employment that might conflict with Atlas’s interests.

The plaintiff alleges that the Leyines violated the Principles Contract from the start, although Atlas did not learn of the misdeeds until March 16, 2016. The Le-vines operated and had interests in various non-Atlas related entities, including sales of automated parking garages and various real estate holdings (which we call their Unrelated Entities). Atlas contends that the defendants perpetrated a campaign to fraudulently and illegally misappropriate and convert funds from Atlas to use for their benefit, and for the benefit of their Unrelated Entities. ,

Then, in an attempt to cover the defendants’ improper actions, Jesse endeavored to shut down'Atlas’s major operations by drafting a notice to ciistomers that Atlas would no longer design and build press room automation, and drafting a notice to lay off nearly all of Atlas’s employees. His attempt to shut down Atlas apparently was unsuccessful, but it alerted the board to his conduct, and Atlas removed Jesse as CEO of Atlas on March 16,2016.

The plaintiff alleges the defendants engaged in the following improper activities:

[957]*957• They diverted a substantial portion of a lawsuit settlement with General Motors Corporation into a secret bank account, and then transferred those and other company funds from the secret account to an account of the Levine Trust,
• They charged the company a credit fee in exchange for guarantying a line of credit, and continued to charge the company after the loan was repaid.
• They invoiced the company for legal expenses and charges by outside contractors .incurred by the Unrelated Entities.
• They added employees to the Atlas payroll when those employees in fact performed work for the defendants’ Unrelated Entities.
• They misused the company credit card for non-Atlas-related expenditures, and withdrew over $240,000 from petty cash for personal use and for the benefit of the Unrelated Enti- • ties.
• They charged the company rent for a Chicago office that was not used for Atlas business and then misappropri- ■ ated the returned security deposit.

After the Levines were separated from Atlas, the plaintiff alleges that they filed fraudulent Uniform Commercial Code financing statements against Atlas’s assets. Although the financing statements were terminated by the State of Michigan, Atlas alleges that it suffers continuing damage because the trade lines show up on its credit reports.

Atlas filed its complaint on August 25, 2016, a first amended complaint on September 2, 2016, and a second amended complaint on November 28, 2016. The second amended complaint alleges fraud (Count I); silent fraud (Count II); fraud in the inducement (Count III); common law and statutory conversion (Count IV); unjust enrichment (Count V); breach of fiduciary duty (Count VI); breach-of Michigan Compiled Laws § 450.4404, which prescribes a manager’s duties under Michigan’s limited liability company law (Count VII); breach of Delaware' General Corporation Law § 18-1101, which governs the restriction and limitation of an LLC manager’s duties (Count VIII); negligent misrepresentation (Count IX); - breach of Michigan Compiled Laws § 440.9501, which prohibits filing false UCC financing statements (Count X); tortious interference (Count XI); civil conspiracy (Count XII); concert of action (Count XIII); and aiding and abetting the breach of fiduciary duties (Count XIV). Counts III, IV, V, X, XI, XII, XIII, and IX are against Jesse, .Julius, and the Levine Trust; Counts I, II, VI, arid VIII are against' Jesse and Julius; and Count VII is against Jesse only.

■On September 20, 2016, Atlas filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the defendants from filing more financing statements. Just before the motion hearing date, the parties filed a stipulation to expunge the UCC financing statements filed by the defendants, and, after, a status conference, the Court entered an order prohibiting the defendants from filing any more UCC .financing statements against the plaintiff,

On November 3, 2016, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss, and filed a second motion to dismiss when the plaintiff filed the second amended complaint. The defendants also filed á motion for a preliminary injunction, which the Court denied.

II.

The defendant’s motion is based on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The standards are well known to the parties: the purpose of the motion is to allow a [958]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 F. Supp. 3d 950, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atlas-technologies-llc-v-levine-mied-2017.