Dwg Holding Company Llc, Et Ano V. Decathlon Alpha, Iii, L.p.

Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided August 3, 2026·No. 86893-4·Unpublished

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION ONE

DWG HOLDING COMPANY LLC; a No. 86893-4-I Washington limited liability company; and DENNY WANG, an individual,

Appellants,

v. UNPUBLISHED OPINION

DECATHLON ALPHA, III, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership,

Respondent.

BOWMAN, A.C.J. — DWG Holding Company LLC and Denny Wang appeal the trial court orders dismissing their breach of contract claim, granting summary judgment for Decathlon Alpha III LP’s breach of contract counterclaim, and awarding Decathlon attorney fees. Because no genuine issues of material fact remain and Decathlon is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we affirm.

FACTS

GAEMS and Decathlon

In 2010, John Smith and Dean Mercier founded G.A.E.M.S. Inc.

(GAEMS), a technology and mobile gaming company based in Redmond. GAEMS designed accessories for video game consoles such as Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation. It specialized in portable monitors for the gaming systems. One of their primary products was the “GAEMS M155.”

In 2015, Wang joined the company as a partner. In 2016, Wang purchased GAEMS through his company, DWG Acquisition Company LLC (DWG Acquisition). In 2017, GAEMS underwent a corporate restructuring. Smith and Mercier relinquished ownership but stayed with the company as managers.1 Decathlon is a fund owned by a financing firm that specializes in growth funding. In June 2017, Decathlon and GAEMS executed a “Revenue Loan and Security Agreement” (RLSA). Decathlon loaned GAEMS $1.6 million, secured by an interest in all present and future acquired property of GAEMS, including intellectual property. As a condition of the RLSA, Decathlon required a group of separate GAEMS investors, the “Wang Group,”2 to subordinate its loan to Decathlon’s loan. In completing the loan process, Decathlon vetted GAEMS using its “standard due diligence checklist.”3 In October 2018, GAEMS executed a “Distribution Agreement” with Protempo Limited. Under the agreement, Protempo developed tooling for GAEMS products and received exclusive licensing and distribution rights. In exchange, Protempo agreed to pay GAEMS a percentage of its revenue from product sales.

Between 2017 and 2022, Wang, Mercier, and Smith had a management dispute over GAEMS that resulted in “contentious litigation.” In April 2019,

1 Whether Smith and Mercier completely relinquished their ownership became the subject of a 2018 lawsuit filed by Wang.

2 The Wang Group is a group of individuals that had also loaned GAEMS money.

3 The checklist identified about 40 documents and other company-specific materials that Decathlon would review before approving a loan. Decathlon would typically set up a Dropbox account and ask company representatives or operating executives to upload materials to the account.

Decathlon intervened in the litigation to “protect its interests when it became clear that the Wang Group disclaimed the validity of the subordination agreement signed by Mr. Wang in 2017.”

In 2021, GAEMS products were losing compatibility with changing technology. Protempo’s payments became “erratic,” and GAEMS could not cover its operating expenses. Ultimately, the court appointed a general receiver to manage GAEMS’ finances. In February, Decathlon filed a “Proof of Claim” with the receiver for over $6.6 million for repayment of its loan to GAEMS. The receiver attempted to secure a buyer for GAEMS but could not, as the Protempo Distribution Agreement restricted the use of most of the tooling to ramp up sales. To further complicate matters, Protempo gave much of the GAEMS tooling to Jetway, a foreign manufacturer. Meanwhile, Wang formed DWG Holding Company LLC (DWG). DWG’s “purpose was to acquire all GAEMS loan rights held by Decathlon.”

On March 19, 2021, Decathlon and GAEMS4 entered into a “Mutual Release and Settlement Agreement” (Settlement Agreement). In exchange for $1.3 million, Decathlon agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Protempo or other third parties, dismiss its Proof of Claim, and assign all its rights under the RLSA to DWG. As security for the payment, Wang executed a deed of trust in favor of Decathlon for real property located in Bellevue. DWG agreed to make quarterly payments of $150,000 to Decathlon beginning October 15, 2021.

4 The contract lists the GAEMS parties as “Chengdu Gaishi Electronics, Ltd.;

Zhizheng Wang individually and for the Wang Group and Wang Lender Group, QiQi ‘Denny’ Wang, Le Li, and DWG Holding Company, LLC.”

In April 2021, Decathlon and DWG drafted a formal assignment of Decathlon’s rights and interests under the RLSA. During the negotiation of the document, DWG proposed adding a cooperation provision to the draft assignment. The parties chose not to include that paragraph in the final “Assignment Agreement, Assignment of Receivership Proof of Claim, and Bill of Sale” (Assignment Agreement).

Under the Assignment Agreement, Decathlon

assign[ed], transfer[ed], convey[ed], and [sold] to [DWG] all of [its]

right, title and interest in, to, and arising out of, claims and rights related in any way to the RLSA and Proof of Claim, including pledged collateral, as well as any and all rights it has to bring any form of litigation against Protempo, domestically or internationally, or any other third-parties relating to the [Decathlon] Rights set forth in the Settlement Agreement, without recourse, representation or warranty of any kind except as set forth in the Settlement.

Decathlon also discharged all duties, liabilities, and obligations against DWG in connection with the RLSA. And the Assignment Agreement stated that it

contains the complete agreement of the parties and supersedes any prior agreements, whether written or oral, between them with respect to the Loan Documents, except that this Agreement does not supersede the March 19, 2021 Settlement Agreement entered into by [Decathlon] and [DWG], and is instead intended to memorialize the assignment of rights discussed in that Settlement Agreement. To the extent this document and the Settlement Agreement conflict in any way, the terms of the Settlement Agreement supersede this Agreement and controls the relationship between the Parties. This Agreement may not further be modified or amended except by a writing signed by the Parties hereto.

In May 2021, the general receiver terminated the receivership. In June, DWG foreclosed on the GAEMS collateral assigned by Decathlon. It then tried to

extract GAEMS from the Distribution Agreement with Protempo and demanded Protempo turn over all the GAEMS tooling equipment.5 In July, Wang and DWG’s (collectively DWG’s) counsel, Benjamin Ellison, e-mailed Decathlon’s attorney, seeking documents to assist DWG in its litigation with Mercier and Smith. Ellison stated:

My client is looking forward to commencing payments under the purchase agreement with your client soon.

However, this is complicated somewhat by [Mercier and Smith’s lawyer]’s very recent claim that the RLSA is not properly guaranteed by DWG [Acquisition] and that Decathlon conducted insufficient due diligence in determining that DWG owned GAEMS.

To facilitate our mutual clients’ best interests, could you share the due diligence documents provided historically establishing that DWG [Acquisition] owns GAEMS? [The lawyer]’s 11th hour argument is that Mercier and Smith own GAEMS, despite representations to the contrary in the RLSA.

On July 30, Ellison clarified the request, saying, “I guess I am asking for a copy of the due diligence materials shared by GAEMS with Decathlon in making the loan.”

On August 26, 2021, Decathlon’s attorney responded to Ellison, saying:

I verified that there are [no] additional due-diligence records that were not disclosed. Is there some specific document that you believe should exist? If so, I am happy to ask for Decathlon to look for that. But at this point, we don’t believe there are other due-

diligence documents.

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Dwg Holding Company Llc, Et Ano V. Decathlon Alpha, Iii, L.p., (Wash. Ct. App. 2026).

Dwg Holding Company Llc, Et Ano V. Decathlon Alpha, Iii, L.p. (Dwg Holding Company Llc, Et Ano V. Decathlon Alpha, Iii, L.p.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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