Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor

CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJuly 31, 2024
Docket1:23-cv-01129
StatusUnknown

This text of Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor (Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor, (D. Del. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE IN RE: INSYS THERAPEUTICS INC., et al., ) Chapter 11 ) Case No. 19-11292 (ITD) Liquidating Debtors. ) (Gointly Administered) a ) ) INSYS LIQUIDATION TRUST, by and through ) WILLIAM H. HENRICH, as LIQUIDATING ) Adv. No. 21-50557 (JTD) TRUSTEE, ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) JOHN N. KAPOOR, ) Civ. No. 23-1129-GBW ) Defendant. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION Derek C. Abbott, Matthew O. Talmo, Morris NICHOLS ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP, Wilmington DE; Eric D. Madden, Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, Dallas, TX; Keith Y. Cohan, Ryan M. Goldstein, Morgan M. Menchaca, REID COLLINS & TsaA1 LLP, Austin, TX — Counsel to Plaintiff. Michael W. McDermott, Peter C. McGivney, BERGER HARRIS LLP, Wilmington, DE; Richard C. Pedone, Brian T. Kelly, NIXON PEABODY LLP, Boston, MA — Counsel to Defendant.

July 31, 2024 Wilmington, Delaware

Min, WILLIAMS, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE: This matter arises out of the chapter 11 cases of Insys Therapeutics, Inc. (“Insys,” and, together with certain affiliates, the “Debtors”) in an adversary proceeding brought by William H. Henrich, in his official capacity as Liquidating Trustee (the “Trustee”) of the Insys Liquidation Trust (the “Trust”), seeking a judgment ordering defendant Dr. John N. Kapoor (“Defendant”) to repay advances made to him by Debtors for his legal defense in a criminal action in which he was convicted (Adv. D.I. 35) (“Amended Complaint”).! The Trustee filed a motion for partial summary judgment on Count IV of the Amended Complaint (Adv. D.I. 41), which was followed by limited discovery, briefing, and oral argument. (Adv. D.I. 44, 55, 61, 62, 70.) Before the Court is the Bankruptcy Court’s Memorandum Opinion, dated August 17, 2023 (D.I. 1), which recommends that this Court enter final judgment against Defendant and in favor of Trustee in the total amount of $5,973,078.96. The Memorandum Opinion constitutes the Bankruptcy Court’s proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law (“Proposed FFCL”) in support of final judgment, as required by Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure (“Bankruptcy Rule”) 7052 and 9033. Defendant has objected to certain of the proposed FFCL (D.L. 1-1) (“Objections”), and the Trustee has filed his response (D.I. 1-2). For the reasons set forth herein, the Court overrules the Defendant’s Objections, and adopts the Proposed FFCL submitted by the Bankruptcy Court.

' The docket of the adversary proceeding, captioned Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor, No. 21- 50557 (JTD) (Bankr. D. Del.), is cited herein □□ “Adv. D.I.__.” * The Memorandum Opinion constituted the Bankruptcy Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Bankruptcy Rule 7052. Bankruptcy Rule 9033 provides that, in any proceeding in which the Bankruptcy Court has issued proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, this Court “shall make a de novo review “of any portion of the bankruptcy judge’s findings of fact or conclusions of law to which specific written objection has been made ... ” FED. R. BANKR. P. 9033.

I. BACKGROUND As the Bankruptcy Court explained, and the record supports, Defendant is the former Chairman and CEO of Insys, whose bylaws required the company to advance expenses to its directors or officers in any legal proceeding to which the director or officer was a party by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director or officer of Insys. (Adv. D.I. 42, Ex. 1, § 45.) Defendant also executed an indemnity agreement with Insys (the “Indemnity Agreement”). (d., Ex. 2.) The Indemnity Agreement provides that Defendant is entitled to indemnification and advancement from Insys to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) for any legal proceeding related to his position at Insys. Consistent with the requirements of the DGCL, the Indemnity Agreement also provides that Defendant is not entitled to indemnification with respect to conduct found in a final judgment to be “in bad faith, knowingly fraudulent or deliberately dishonest or [to have] constituted willful misconduct (but only to the extent of such specific determination)[.]” (Jd. § 10(a)(iii).) The Indemnity Agreement further states that Defendant “acknowledges that the execution and delivery of this agreement shall constitute an undertaking providing that Indemnitee shall, to the fullest extent required by law, repay the advance if and to the extent that it is ultimately determined by a court of competent jurisdiction in a final judgment, not subject to appeal, that [Defendant] is not entitled to be indemnified by the Company.” (/d.) On December 10, 2013, Insys received a subpoena from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the “HHS Subpoena”) requesting documents related to the sale and marketing of Subsys, Insys’ proprietary opioid product. (Amended Complaint, { 35.) On February 29, 2016, Defendant retained Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (“Paul Weiss”) to represent him in connection with an investigation launched by the Department of Justice (the “DOJ Investigation”), which arose out of the HHS Subpoena.

As required by the Indemnity Agreement, on June 17, 2016, Insys began making advancements (the “Advancements”) to Defendant for his attorneys’ fees. The Advancements continued until September 7, 2018. (Adv. D.I. 42 at 14 and Ex. 7 (“Housley Decl.”).) In December 2016, several Insys officers and employees, were indicted in a criminal action filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts captioned United States v. Babich et al., No. 1:16-cr-10343-ADB (D. Mass.) (the “Criminal Action”). Defendant was not initially named in the Criminal Action, but on October 24, 2017, Defendant was named in a superseding indictment (the “First Superseding Indictment”). United States v. Babich et al., No. 1:16-cr-10343-ADB (D. Mass.), D.I. 183. In November 2017, Defendant retained Ropes & Gray LLP (“Ropes & Gray”) to represent him as local counsel in the Criminal Action. On September 11, 2018, a grand jury returned a second superseding indictment (the “Second Superseding Indictment”) modifying the charges filed against Defendant and others. Jd., D.I. 419. On May 2, 2019, Defendant was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) by engaging in a racketeering conspiracy. (Amended Complaint { 60.) On January 23, 2020, Defendant was sentenced to 66 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and issued a fine and forfeiture. __ (Adv. D.I. 42, Ex. 4 (“Kapoor Judgment”).) On August 25, 2021, the First Circuit affirmed the conviction. The Supreme Court denied Defendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari. See generally United States v. Simon et al., 12 F.4th 1 (1st Cir. 2021), cert. denied sub nom. Kapoor v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 2811 (2022), and cert. denied sub nom. Lee v. United States, 142 8. Ct. 2812 (2022). Pursuant to its bylaws and the Indemnity Agreement, Insys made more than $6 million in advancements to Defendant’s criminal defense counsel and their vendors during the DOJ Investigation and the Criminal Action. (See Housley Decl.). The Trustee brought this action seeking to recoup most of those advancements. The Trustee moved for partial summary judgment

on his claim for recoupment, arguing that Defendant’s criminal conviction in the Criminal Action provided conclusive proof that Defendant is not entitled to indemnification for those legal fees. (Adv. D.I. 42.) Defendant opposed the motion for partial summary judgment (Adv. D.I. 62), arguing that the facts are not as clear as the Trustee claimed.

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Insys Liquidation Trust v. Kapoor, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/insys-liquidation-trust-v-kapoor-ded-2024.