Boles v. Turner (In Re Enivid, Inc.)

364 B.R. 139, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 940, 48 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 16, 2007 WL 806627
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedMarch 16, 2007
Docket19-10342
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 364 B.R. 139 (Boles v. Turner (In Re Enivid, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boles v. Turner (In Re Enivid, Inc.), 364 B.R. 139, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 940, 48 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 16, 2007 WL 806627 (Mass. 2007).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOAN N. FEENEY, Bankruptcy Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The matters before the Court for determination are Motions for Preliminary Injunctions (the “Preliminary Injunction Motions”) filed by the Plaintiffs, James B. Boles (“Boles”), Liquidation Trust Representative of the enivid, inc. Liquidation Trust 1 and Christopher J. Panos (“Pa-nos”), Liquidating Trustee of the Sabine, Inc. Liquidating Trust (collectively, the “Plan Trustees”). 2 The Court also has before it a related motion captioned “Joint Motion for Entry of an Order to the Extent Necessary, Approving the Use of the D & 0 Policy Proceeds to Fund the Securities Litigation Settlement Preliminarily Approved by the District Court” (the “Joint Motion”) filed by Andrew J. Fili-powski (“Filipowski”), Michael P. Culli-nane (“Cullinane”), and Paul Humenansky (“Humenansky”), together with other former officers and directors of Divine, Inc., now known as enivid, inc., and James Tito, and Frank Waddell (collectively, the “Lead Plaintiffs”), as well as Jeffrey A. Hoover, Patricia Diamantouros, Mike Turner, James F. Howard and Chris Brown (col *142 lectively, with the Lead Plaintiffs, the “Shareholder Plaintiffs”). 3 Panos filed an Opposition to the Joint Motion.

The Plan Trustees, through their Preliminary Injunction Motions, seek an order restraining the prosecution and settlement of a number of the class actions brought by former shareholders of Divine against its officers and directors (the “D & 0 Defendants”) for violations of federal and state securities laws (the “Securities Actions”). 4 The Shareholder Plaintiffs and Filipowski, Cullinane, Humenansky (the “Intervenors”), who have been permitted to intervene in the above-captioned adversary proceedings, filed Oppositions to the Preliminary Injunction Motions. All parties have filed briefs. The Court conducted a hearing on December 6, 2006 and took the matters under advisement.

None of the parties requested an eviden-tiary hearing on the Preliminary Injunction Motions or the Joint Motion; the facts necessary to determine them are not in dispute. Accordingly, the Court makes the following findings of fact and rulings of law.

II. BACKGROUND AND FACTS

The actions brought by Shareholder Plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, are now pending in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. On December 17, 2004, after the commencement of the Securities Actions, Stewart F. Grossman, the court-appointed Examiner in Divine, filed a 102-page, 17-count Complaint (Adv. P. No. 04-1439) against four of Divine’s directors and officers (Filipowski, Culli-nane, Humenansky, and Jude Sulivan (“Sullivan”)), 5 in which he alleged, among other things, breaches of the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty (the “Divine Adversary”). Pursuant to the confirmed plan in the enivid case, the Divine Adver *143 sary was assigned to, and now is being prosecuted by, Boles, as the Liquidation Trust Representative of enivid. Panos, as the Liquidating Trustee of the Sabine, Inc. Liquidating Trust, commenced an action against Sullivan, RoweCom’s sole Director and its Vice-President and Treasurer (Adv. P. No. 05-1019), for breaches of the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty in which he sought damages of over $73 million (the “RoweCom Adversary”). Boles and Panos seek to stay the Securities Actions until such time as their respective actions against the former management of Divine and RoweCom are adjudicated or settled.

The Defendants in the Securities Actions, which include the directors and officers of Divine, have sought defense and indemnification coverage under Directors, Officers and Corporate Liability Insurance Policies (the “D & 0 Policies”). In 2001 and 2002, Divine purchased D & O Policies to insure itself, its subsidiaries, including RoweCom, its officers and directors, as well as the officers and directors of its affiliates, in the aggregate sum of $50 million. The insurance companies have denied coverage for certain acts in policy year two and have advised that $18.5 million in insurance coverage remains for acts in policy year one. 6

In May of 2006, the Shareholder Plaintiffs reached an agreement to settle the Securities Actions with certain of the D & O Defendants, namely Filipowski, Culli-nane and Humenansky as well as certain other defendants, excluding Sullivan. 7 The parties to the Stipulation of Settlement agreed that the D & O Policies would fund the settlement in the sum of $6.5 million for the period between September 17, 2001 through February 14, 2003. As a condition of the settlement, the parties further agreed that this Court must approve use of $6.5 million of the D & O Policies’ proceeds to fund the settlement. The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts preliminarily approved the settlement on August 25, 2006, subject to this Court’s approval of the Stipulation of Settlement. Panos, as Trustee of the Sabine, Inc. Liquidating Trust, objected to Joint Motion pursuant to which the parties to the Securities Action seek to secure $6.5 million from the D & O Policies to fund the settlement, representing that the Plan Trustees have asserted claims under the D & O Policies to fund any recoveries which they might obtain in the Divine and Rowe-Com Adversaries.

The D & O Policies are what are known as “wasting policies.” In other words, defense costs are part of covered losses, and *144 the insurers only are required to pay up to policy limits no matter how many claims are brought against directors and officers. The insurers are obligated to pay a “Loss” arising from a covered claim up to the limits of coverage. Under the D & 0 Policies, “Loss” means “damages, settlements, or judgments, and defense costs.” Additionally, there is both liability and indemnification coverage up to policy limits. Filipowski, Cullinane, Humenansky, as officers and directors of Divine, and Sullivan as an officer and the sole director of Rowe-Com, have made claims for indemnification against enivid and Sabine. It is unclear what other assets they may have to satisfy any judgments obtained in the Securities Actions or in the Divine and RoweCom Adversaries; no party made any offer of proof or argument on this issue.

III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

A. The Plan Trustees

The Plan Trustees seek an injunction to prevent the Shareholder Plaintiffs from further prosecuting and settling their respective class actions and obtaining any proceeds of the D & 0 Policies until the conclusion of the Divine and RoweCom Adversaries to prevent the diminution of proceeds otherwise available to them to fund any recoveries they may obtain in those actions.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 B.R. 139, 2007 Bankr. LEXIS 940, 48 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 16, 2007 WL 806627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boles-v-turner-in-re-enivid-inc-mab-2007.