In re Orbit/FR, Inc. Stockholders Litigation

Court of Chancery of Delaware·Decided January 24, 2023·No. CA No. 2018-0340-SG·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

IN RE ORBIT/FR, INC. ) STOCKHOLDERS LITIGATION ) C.A. No. 2018-0340-SG

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Date Submitted: October 26, 2022 Date Decided: January 24, 2023

A. Thompson Bayliss, E. Wade Houston, and G. Mason Thomson, of ABRAMS & BAYLISS LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Attorneys for Plaintiff AB Value Partners, L.P.

Ashley R. Altschuler, Ethan H. Townsend, Harrison S. Carpenter, and Kevin M. Regan, of MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Attorneys for Defendants Microwave Vision S.A., Phillippe Garreau, and Arnaud Gandois.

Daniel M. Silver, Benjamin A. Smyth, and Travis J. Ferguson, of McCARTER & ENGLISH, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Attorneys for Defendant Douglas Merrill.

Henry E. Gallagher Jr and Shaun Michael Kelly, of CONNOLLY GALLAGHER LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Attorneys for Defendant Per Iversen.

GLASSCOCK, Vice Chancellor

This memorandum opinion is the latest incarnation of a long-running class action, asserting that a merger between a Delaware corporation, Orbit/FR, Inc. (“Orbit”), and its controller Microwave Vision, S.A. (“Micro”), was unfair to the class of minority stockholders. The lead Plaintiff is former stockholder AB Value Partners, L.P. (“Partners”). It replaced original lead Plaintiff Minerva Group L.P. (“Minerva”)1 and filed an amended complaint, styled the Substitute Complaint (the “SC”), on May 13, 2022.

Among the original Defendants was the movant here, Defendant Douglas Merrill. Merrill is a former director of Orbit who served on the special committee that negotiated sale of Orbit to Micro (the “Special Committee”). Minerva, however, voluntarily dismissed Merrill without prejudice. The SC, by contrast, again named Merrill as a defendant. That is understandable, as the SC alleges that Merrill was, in addition to serving as a supposedly independent director, an executive of Orbit whose job depended, or had depended, on the continued patronage of Orbit’s controller, Micro. In other words, per Partners, Merrill was not independent, and given his dependence on Micro, he reasonably could be inferred to have facilitated an unfair sale to placate that entity.

1 The circumstances of Partners replacement of Minerva are detailed in my memorandum opinion of January 9, 2023. See In re Orbit/FR, Inc., 2023 WL 128530, (Del. Ch. Jan. 9, 2023). Those circumstances are not pertinent here.

The problem with this argument is that it is based on a fundamental error. The Plaintiff’s counsel, confronted with this error at oral argument, forthrightly admitted that counsel had misread a document, which (upon casual reading) could be read to support a conclusion that Merrill served as an Orbit “President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain Strategies.”2 Partners now concedes that there are no facts from which I may infer that Merrill was employed by Orbit or otherwise dependent on Micro. Plaintiff, nonetheless, points to a personal relationship with another Defendant, Per Iverson, as overcoming the presumption of Merrill’s independence. Iverson was a member of the Orbit board, and a senior executive of both Micro and Orbit. According to the complaint, in the past Iverson and Merrill were neighbors, their children were contemporaries, and Iverson and Merrill frequently went for bicycle rides together. Iverson was responsible for Merrill becoming a board member. That is the substance of the remaining claim against Merrill.

To survive a motion to dismiss here, in light of Orbit’s exculpation clause,3 the SC must allege facts that make it reasonably conceivable that Merrill breached his duty of loyalty to Orbit and its stockholders in his conduct while on the Special Committee. The SC does not suggest that Merrill had a personal interest in the transaction at issue, however. Nor does it allege facts suggesting that he acted in

2 See Verified Substitute Class Action Complaint ¶ 12 n.1, Dkt. No. 145 (citing Orbit/FR, Inc., Annual Report (Form 10-K) at 27 (Mar. 31, 2010)). 3 Opening Br. Supp. Def. Douglas Merrill’s Mot. Dismiss Ex. A ¶ 8, Dkt. No. 152.

bad faith. The Plaintiff, accordingly, is reliant on the alleged fact that Iverson had divided loyalties as a fiduciary of both Orbit and Micro, and that I should thus infer that Iverson wanted Micro to acquire Orbit in a process and for a price that were unfair to the Orbit minority stockholders. The Plaintiff then attempts to imply that the relationship between Iverson and Merrill was so close and meaningful that I should infer that Merrill ignored his duty of loyalty in order to benefit Iverson’s employer, Micro. If I could make such an inference reasonably, that would presumably state a cause of action for an unexculpated breach of duty against Merrill.4 In other words, the Plaintiff’s logic is sound and consonant with our case law. The allegations of fact, however, are an inadequate foundation to support the inferential load that the Plaintiff asks them to bear. The facts concerning the Iverson/Merrill relationship, even looked at in the manner most favorable to the Plaintiff, do not imply that Merrill allowed his fiduciary obligations to be overborne by a personal loyalty to Iverson or Micro. Instead, they represent a rather casual sharing of interests between neighbors. Because I cannot reasonably infer that Merrill’s loyalty to Orbit was corrupted by his personal relationships, and since the

4 See In re Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc, Stockholder Litig., 115 A.3d 1173, 1179–80 (Del. 2015) (“When a director is protected by an exculpatory charter provision, a plaintiff can survive a motion to dismiss by that director defendant by pleading facts supporting a rational inference that the director harbored self-interest adverse to the stockholders’ interests, acted to advance the self- interest of an interested party from whom they could not be presumed to act independently, or acted in bad faith.”).

SC does not allege that he was interested in the transaction and does not plead facts implying Merrill’s bad faith, the Motion to Dismiss must be granted.

I note, for the casual reader, that a fiduciary duty action has been adequately pled against Micro and the individual Defendants associated with Micro. This action, therefore, will go forward. Based on the current pleadings, however, it must do so without Special Committee member Merrill.

My reasoning is explained briefly, below.

I. BACKGROUND5

This memorandum opinion focuses exclusively on Merrill’s Motion to Dismiss and the arguments in support thereof.6 Where possible, facts extraneous to the assessment of Merrill’s arguments are not repeated here.

A. The Parties Orbit was a Delaware incorporated, Pennsylvania based corporation that was in the business of testing the performance of microwave emitting devices.7 In 2008, Orbit stock traded on FINRA’s Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.8 The company

5 Unless otherwise noted, the facts referenced in this memorandum opinion are drawn from the Verified Substitute Class Action Complaint and the documents incorporated therein. See generally Verified Substitute Class Action Compl., Dkt. No. 145. 6 Def. Douglas Merrill’s Mot. Dismiss, Dkt. No. 151; Opening Br. Supp. Def. Douglas Merrill’s Mot. Dismiss, Dkt. No. 152. 7 Verified Substitute Class Action Compl. ¶ 7, Dkt. No. 145. 8 Id.

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